MAICA SMARA – SMARANDA GHEORGHIU – ONE OF THE FIRST TEACHERS AT THE CARMEN SYLVA PRIMARY SCHOOL, ESTABLISHED IN A CELL OF THE SINAIA MONASTERY
MAICA SMARA – SMARANDA GHEORGHIU – ONE OF THE FIRST TEACHERS AT THE CARMEN SYLVA PRIMARY SCHOOL, ESTABLISHED IN A CELL OF THE SINAIA MONASTERY

Summary/Abstract: This article takes as its starting point the beginnings of the teaching career of Smaranda Gheorghiu, known by the pseudonym Maica Smara, one of the first teachers at the Carmen Sylva Primary School in Sinaia, founded in 1882 in a cell of the monastery. The analysis is based on memoirs and press sources that confirm or contest this episode, highlighting the discrepancies between official documents and biographical tradition. The study then broadens its scope to include the context of Smaranda Andronescu's education, interrupted by an early marriage to teacher George O. Gârbea, and her return to teaching after dramatic family experiences. This is followed by her marriage to the engineer officer P. Gheorghiu, her teaching career in Ploiești and Bucharest, professional recognition through participation in congresses and her mission to Italy (1912), her travels (including to the North Pole), and the public dimension of her lectures and published works—almost 40 volumes, supplemented by dozens of articles. Ultimately, the portrait of Mother Smara emerges as that of an educator of the people who, beyond her school activities, remained a point of reference for the affirmation of women in Romanian culture and pedagogy at the end of the 19th century.

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