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Photo Collection

Step back in time and discover the personal side of some of Brașov's most notable figures through their private photo collections. Immerse yourself in a bygone era and explore the fascinating stories behind each image. From people and places to experiences and history, these rare glimpses into the past are now available for public viewing.

Follow the link you see when you click on a photo to go to the page where all the steps of the photo editing process are shown.

City of Brașov

Postcard made and edited as a photo by Verlag H. Zeidner, Kronstadt – Braşov

Date: post 1918, interwar period

Dimensions: 7x9 cm

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Collection of illustrated postcards no. 958, uncirculated

Braşov – Kronstadt – Brassó – Corona

The old town, with the Orthodox Cathedral and the shops at Târgul Grâului

The old center of Braşov, or today's Piaţa Sfatului, was, in the Middle Ages, a commercial space, which over time was divided into locations dedicated to certain goods: Târgul Cailor (Horses Fair), Târgul Boilor (Oxen Fair), Târgul Grâului (Wheat Fair), on the same side of the square as the Orthodox Cathedral.

The wheat fair exhibited the grains brought by merchants from Wallachia and Moldova. This place was wide enough to become a promenade for the people of Brasov. The houses on this side had shops, as seen in the photo. Many means of transport and vehicles were stationed in the square: wagons, carriages, cars that can be seen in the photo alongside the crowd of people and shops.

Șirul Florilor (The Row of Flowers) and Șirul Fructelor (The Row of Fruits), on the side towards the Black Church, Șirul Botelor (The Row of Barrels) and Șirul Inului (The Row of Flax) should also be mentioned. These rows were named after the products sold by the locals or after the goods made by Brasov's craftsmen.

Maria Secăreanu

A Lawyer's Widow

Born in 1828, as the daughter of a merchant, Maria married the lawyer Constantin I. Secăreanu. During the 1848 revolution, Secăreanu led the Romanian armed forces in Braşov. In 1850 he was appointed a magistrate in Alba Iulia, where he died two years later. His wife survived his death for 46 years, taking care of their daughter, Aurelia. She never remarried, remaining a widow until the end of her life. In the photo it seems that She is wearing mourning clothes.

She died in 1898, in Brașov, in the house inherited from her father, with the garden that stretched almost to Mount Tâmpa.
The photo was taken in a photography workshop in Bucharest, during one of Maria's visits to her relatives.

Maria Secăreanu

The information about the photographer are printed on the verso: Photography Studio: K. F. Zipser, Calea Mogoşoaiei No. 23, opposite the houses of Prince Scarlat Ghica, next to the houses of Mr. Oteteleşanu, Bucharest, before 1914

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Aurel Andrei Mureşianu's Personal Collection

Photo album inventory no. 2669

Dimensions: 10.5x6 cm

Constantin Missici and the Circus Dog

Constantin Missici and the Circus Dog

Lipova, before 1914

Constantin Missici (1878-1921) was born in Lipova and studied law in Budapest. He married Valeria, the sister of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte. In 1918 he was a delegate in Alba Iulia to the National Assembly that decided to unite Transylvania with Romania. He died in Braşov and is buried in his family vault in Lipova.

Postcard made and edited as a photo by Verlag H. Zeidner, Kronstadt – Braşov

Date: post 1918, interwar period

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Collection of illustrated postcards no. 958, uncirculated

Dimensions: 7x9 cm

Valeria Missici playing the piano

Lipova, before 1914

Valeria Missici was one of the sisters of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte, who wrote and edited the Romanian newspaper ''Drapelul din Lugoj''. On August 5, 1905, she married the Romanian lawyer Constantin Missici, from Lipova.

Valeria Missici playing the piano

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Construction Site

Construction Site

before 1928

The place where the Braşov Chamber of Commerce and Industry was built, today the headquarters of the George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, România. 

This historical edifice where the library is running nowadays was built in 1927-1929 by the architects Moritz Wagner and Constantin Nanescu, in neo-Romanian style.

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Emil I. Bologa's Personal Collection

Dimensions: 17x22.5 cm

A walk in the woods

Family and friends group from Braşov - before 1914

Bottom row from left to right: Gheorghe Dima, Valeriu Branişte, Florin Oniţiu
Top row from left to right:
Maria Dima, Victoria Oniţiu, Virgil Oniţiu, probably Valeria Missici, Constantin Missici

Gheorghe Dima (1847-1925) was a renowned Romanian conductor, composer and director of the National Conservatory in Cluj.

Valeriu Branişte (1869-1928) was a well-known Romanian journalist at the time, active in newspapers in Sibiu, Cernăuţi, Timisoara, Lugoj.

Virgil Oniţiu (1864-1915) was a high school teacher and director in Braşov. His wife, Victoria Oniţiu, was the sister of Valeriu Branişte.

Valeria Missici was the sister of Valeriu Branişte and was married to the Romanian lawyer C. Missici.

 

A walk in the woods

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Virgilia Branişte in the garden

Virgilia Branişte in the garden

probably in the garden of the house in Lugoj - before 1914

Virgilia Braniște (1885-1969) was the sister of the Romanian journalist and memorialist Valeriu Branişte. Virgilia worked as a nurse during the First World War, in the military hospitals in Romania. She devoted herself to the care of the wounded, falling ill with exanthematic typhus, which haunted the ranks of the soldiers. Her merits were rewarded by the decorations granted by Austria-Hungary and the Royal House of Romania. She married the doctor Pompiliu Nistor (1883-1961).

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Istanbul 

View from the boat

On the occasion of the trip to Istanbul - Thessaloniki - Athens, made by the "Excursion" Society of the students of the Academy of economic and industrial studies Cluj Napoca.

Original explanations on the back: On the way to the island "Prinkipo", by boat, near the island "Antigona" - July 12, 1934

Istanbul 

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Gheorghe Dragoş's Personal Collection, inventory no.  2367

Dimensions: 6x8.5 cm

Between light and shade

Between light and shade

Valeria Missici

Valeria Missici was one of the sisters of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte, who wrote and edited the Romanian newspaper ''Drapelul din Lugoj''. On August 5, 1905, she married the Romanian lawyer Constantin Missici, from Lipova.

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Students from Braşov's high school on a trip to Italy

Torre Annunziata, April 1906

In Braşov, both the German and the Romanian high schools used to organise a school trip for each promotion at the end of their studies. Traveling was done abroad, departing by ship from the port of Constanța to Istanbul, arriving in Athens and usually visiting Greece and Italy, countries with numerous ancient monuments. The trip was like a history and culture lesson and also a reward for the  students with good academic results.

Students from Braşov's high school on a trip to Italy

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Aurel Andrei Mureşianu's Personal Collection, inventory no. 2652/3

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Ionel Perlea in sailor suit

Photographer's emblem and name: Gebrüder Lützel, Königlichen Bayerischen Grafphotographen, Munich

 

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Aurel Andrei Mureşianu's Personal Collection, inventory no. 2646/3

Dimensions: 16.5x10.5cm

Ionel Perlea in sailor suit

1909

Ionel Perlea (1900 - 1970) was a famous Romanian composer and conductor. Born in Romania, to a Romanian father (Victor Perlea) and a German mother (Margarethe Haberlein), after his father's death, he grew up in Munich, with his mother's parents. From 1919 he worked in Romania, being the conductor of the National Opera in Cluj and Bucharest. In 1945 he was at the lectern of the Opera in Rome. Due to his talent and qualities, the Scalla theater in Milan offered him a permanent engagement. In 1949 he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, New York. He performed on the great stages of the world in musical centers such as Vienna, Paris, Florence, Buenos Aires, and in the USA in San Francisco, Chicago. He collaborated for ten years with the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra and taught at the Manhattan School of Music New York.

Children from Brașov on a trip

 before 1918

Surrounded by mountains, Brașov has a rich history in mountain tourism, offering numerous possibilities for hiking. Piatra Craiului Mountains, Bucegi or Piatra Mare Mountains, all of them are less than an hour's drive from the city of Brașov. Mount Tâmpa, located right in the center of the city, although not very high, is highly appreciated by tourists, being an accessible hiking destination.

The two children in the photo seem to be in the Postăvarul massif, which can be approached from the Poiana Brașov tourist resort and which offers more than 30 approved alpine hiking trails, of different  difficulty levels.

Children from Brașov on a trip

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Virgilia Branişte

Virgilia Branişte

probably in the garden of the house in Lugoj - before 1914

Virgilia Braniște (1885-1969) was the sister of the Romanian journalist and memorialist Valeriu Branişte. Virgilia worked as a nurse during the First World War, in the military hospitals in Romania. She devoted herself to the care of the wounded, falling ill with exanthematic typhus, which haunted the ranks of the soldiers. Her merits were rewarded by the decorations granted by Austria-Hungary and the Royal House of Romania. She married the doctor Pompiliu Nistor (1883-1961).

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Valeriu Branişte's family at lunch

Lugoj, before 1914

On the right: Valeriu Branişte (father), in the center: Maria Branişte (mother), first on the left: daughter Valeria

Valeriu Branişte's family at lunch

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Constantin Missici
on a hike in the fir forest

before 1914

Constantin Missici (1878-1921) was born in Lipova and studied law in Budapest. He married Valeria, the sister of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte. In 1918 he was a delegate in Alba Iulia to the National Assembly that decided to unite Transylvania with Romania. He died in Braşov and is buried in his family vault in Lipova.

Constantin Missici
on a hike in the fir forest

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Valeria Missici reading

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

Valeria Missici reading

Lipova, before 1914

Valeria Missici was one of the sisters of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte, who wrote and edited the Romanian newspaper ''Drapelul din Lugoj''. On August 5, 1905, she married the Romanian lawyer Constantin Missici, from Lipova.

Constantin Missici
and his dog

before 1914

Constantin Missici (1878-1921) was born in Lipova and studied law in Budapest. He married Valeria, the sister of the well-known Romanian journalist Valeriu Branişte. In 1918 he was a delegate in Alba Iulia to the National Assembly that decided to unite Transylvania with Romania. He died in Braşov and is buried in his family vault in Lipova.

Constantin Missici
and his dog

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection

Negative on glass

Dimensions: 9x12 cm

School album

1909

Students of the upper course from "Traian" High School in Turnu Severin, Romania.

Dedication: To the nationalist fighter Valeriu Branişte - In memory of January 23 and 24, 1909

School album

George Bariţiu County Library Braşov, Romania

Branişte Family's Personal Collection, inventory no. 5042

Dimensions: 24x31 cm

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