Book „Sinaia, Land of the Elites”

150 years of history seen through an architect’s eyes

“Sinaia, Land of the Elites”, an ambassador-book for national values

Beginning with September this year, Sinaia, the city that includes most architectural monuments per capita in Romania, will have its own “ambassador”! An ambassador irremediably in love with this city! Written with the soul, the book called “Sinaia – Oraşul Elitelor” tells the extraordinary story of the settlement that gradually became Romania’s summer capital, one of the favourite destinations of the elites, a location where the famous Orient Express stopped, a meeting place between European royal families and host of many Continental amplitude events. Architect Dan Nicolae Manea, the author of the book, free of mannerly and easily carries his readers into space and time forays that will irremediably change their image on Sinaia, Romania, traditions, culture and personalities that marked their evolution.

The book surprises by the novel perspective an architect vision offers upon his hometown. The author brings memorable events in the last 150 years to surface and impresses the reader with the amount of published information and pictures, many of them for the first time, as well as with the passion and generosity he shares the perpetual values that put Sinaia on Europe’s most important cities map with the reader.

After reading the book nothing is the same as before! The architecture goes out on the streets, the city breathes the stories of prominent characters that shaped its existence and the reader feels the pride of being a Romanian. The book becomes an ambassador with lawyer tenure! A lawyer that advocates the preservation of the values and uniqueness elements that make the difference. It seems that everything Romania could be singled out for found an expression in Sinaia, from the Royal House to the most important characters of Romanian economic and cultural life. Owning several national and European premieres, as well as courted by the social elites, Sinaia always stood ahead the times it crossed. Breathing a special charm and keeping the fragrance of the time it refers to intact, the book reveals the reader novel perspectives and essential contributions to universal values of the mankind.

Owning several national and European premieres, as well as courted by the social elites, Sinaia always stood ahead the times it crossed. A book about Sinaia had to be written and a serious debate regarding this issue had to take place. “One cannot value unless he or she doesn’t know,” the book author, architect Dan Nicolae Manea, says. Knowing this city that miraculously came up from nothing, may serve not only as a lesson taught by great personalities and the most prominent Romanian architects, but also as a first step toward understanding a possible future. Can the past have a future? The aggregate analysis of architectural and socio-cultural evolution, as well as formulating a value judgements set become the basic elements for sketching attitudes and behaviours which aim to the sustainable development of any city.

Seen from such a perspective, the book written by architect Dan Nicolae Manea may very well become a genuine case study with conclusions that can be extrapolated to a national level, for any human settlement whose past can generate a future… accordingly.

The book educates and makes people acknowledge! After reading it, you start paying attention to urban details you ignored before. The promotional campaign that will take place in Sinaia, Bucharest, at a national level and, subsequently, at an international level, aims to accomplish several goals. It aims to catalyse public opinion on an emblematic city, to perpetuate the memory of some great personalities of the national architecture and to value the existing architectural patrimony and a certain way of managing the sustainable development of a human settlement.

Romanian or foreign tourists will rediscover the city also due to the fact that “Sinaia, Oraşul Elitelor” suggests, for the first time in history, thematic touristic itineraries focused on monument buildings and author houses, inside the city and around it. They will also rediscover the city due to the stories inside, where Sinaia shines into another reality, much more profound than the one we were accustomed with.

In Romanian, English or other large circulation languages, “Sinaia-Oraşul Elitelor” is an exceptional ambassador for a city brand, which stresses on genuine differentiating elements that resulted from value, quality and tradition. Faced with a genuine arch over time, the modern human being meets the value of the elites branded for eternity in architecture and in all other important areas that make for a national civilisation. Starting with this book, the city brand exquisitely becomes “Sinaia-Oraşul Elitelor”!