House-of-Culture mosaic, Măcărești
At risk
A band of glass-smalt panels runs across the facade of the House of Culture (Casa de Cultură) in the village of Măcărești, Ungheni district, set into the pale brick between and around the tall windows, with two large panels on the end bays. At one end, the face of a young woman with a long braid and an earring: a radiant golden sun behind her, a cluster of multicoloured flowers and grapes in her open palm, abstract blocks of green, blue and ochre on a red ground, and a band of folk-motif medallions along the bottom — an allegory of fertility and the land. At the other end, the face of a young worker beside a fist gripping a trowel, a stylised tree, a construction crane and a golden ship's wheel, with a row of clock faces beneath — labour, construction and time. Between the windows are smaller panels: the cosmos, an aquatic composition with fish, theatre masks and a lyre (the arts, fitting for a house of culture). The palette is warm — red, yellow, gold, green and ochre — with the dark contours typical of smalt. The building is now abandoned: fallen plaster, boarded-up doors, a broken stone staircase overgrown with weeds — yet the mosaics survive largely intact and vivid.
- Neighborhood
- Măcărești, r. Ungheni
- Building
- Casa de Cultură (abandonată), Măcărești, r. Ungheni
Photos: Gikü (talk) (CC0)