The Sibiu People Monthly State of the City, May 2007

Fate Takes Its Toll on the City of Sibiu

Our city has miraculously survived five decades of Stalinistic demolition for one simple reason: the government hated us. The government didn't want to spend any money on new buildings in Sibiu. It only thought us worthy of the ancient ones.

But now, destiny strikes back. We the people of Sibiu are getting rid, all by ourselves, of our undeserved inheritance. The government doesn't hate us any longer, but neither do we need enemies when we already have ourselves. Money is back to town. We are now powerful enough to destroy Sibiu, and stupid enough to do it.

Everything we do in Sibiu today is ruled by the simple axiom:

1. Money is the measure of all things. Thou shalt have lots of money.

From 1, we derive:

2. Thou shalt be cheap, and
3. Thou shalt be flashy.

Being cheap is a very efficient way of not spending your money, which means you have more money. As for being flashy, it alleviates that nasty feeling of being cheap, and helps increase your price - which again means that you have more money.

From rule 2 follows a very important corollary, namely:

4. Misuse all space. Build everywhere. Death to trees! Death to gardens! Death to small houses! Building macht frei! Build, build, build!

If you still don't understand rule 4, and are not a diagnosed claustrophobe, this picture should make the idea a little bit clearer:

Notice how the visible sky spot subtly creates the illusion of hope (but don't get fooled by it).

Another good illustration of rule 4 is this encaging of a poor old house by a teenage mutant tyrant:

Once you have contemplated and understood space abuse, you can move along to flashiness. The King of Flash is this fast food (why is it always a fast food?):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You might also like to meet the Queen of Flash (located right in the historic centre):

Flash is often a subtle transformation. It invades humble spots and bestows upon them the sudden grace of Nouveau Riche style and dignity. Behold this beautiful plastic window: 

As for rule 2 (being cheap), the enlargement of this mega-store (from now on a giga-store) speaks (and is) volumes: 

One shouldn't neglect the instances of cheapness beyond this old stonewall either: 

The effect of all these obsessive-compulsive activities is called — you may have guessed it — ugliness. Behold ugliness in all its glory:

As for this particular bit of ugliness, it's not unfinished. It is finished and already broken:

Anyway, all is funny when it ends funny. Notice how the hands of this statue seem to vary at length:

Some Riches Only Thrive in Poverty

Guşteriţa, although technically a part of Sibiu, is very much a village. This village has been spared the wonders of the economic boom, which means that it has seen both less development and less destruction than the rest of town. Seen from certain angles, it seems to be timeless:

And than, of course, there are those other angles (notice that the house is inhabited by TV watchers):

In Romania, less money directly translates to fewer plastic windows for plastic people, which means more real windows for real people — although sometimes there are no people whatsoever left behind the windows:

People in and around Sibiu still remember how Transylvanian Saxon villages used to look like. There are none of them left today, and our irresponsible building habits make their traces harder and harder to find. But this picture should still look like the real thing:

As for angles and timelessness, there is a high angle of Guşteriţa which makes the whole city timeless:

Street Painting: Destruction for the Masses

While Sibiu's richer people destroy the city by building whatever their poor minds may engender, the poorer destructive souls, the ones who can only afford to buy spray paint, have taken direct action against some of the most valuable historical monuments:

It appears that no one can stop the bastards. Quite apart from that, nobody fixes what they break, because — of course — there is no money left over for fixes.