Bizantinismul socialist. Strategia culturală a României împotriva presiunii destalinizării sovietice
Socialist Byzantinism: Romania’s Cultural Strategy in Response to the Pressure of Soviet De-Stalinization

Summary/Abstract: This article examines the reasons behind the Romanian communist regime’s support for “Byzantinism” as a cultural fashion starting in the 1960s. By politically endorsing the valorization of Byzantium and its legacies, the regime turned the issue into an increasingly important factor in its identity politics. The paper analyzes not only the institutional efforts of the regime to gain political capital from this policy in its cultural diplomacy, but also the influence of Byzantium as a symbol over domestic literary and artistic creation. During the 1970s, this “Byzantinism” became an integral part of the protochronist movement, exerting remarkable influence among writers, artists, architects, and journalists. Finally, this renewed focus on Byzantium fueled new dynamics within the Romanian Orthodox Church that brought the institution closer to the official discourse of Ceaușescu’s “golden age”. In 1989, the communist regime collapsed, but its obsession with Byzantium and its legacies survived. Even nowadays, invocations of the Byzantine “tradition” legitimize anti-democratic and reactionary discourses, criticizing modernity and everything considered the result of Western influence. A generic “Byzantine model” is often invoked and projected as an integral part of a putative national tradition.

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