Under the title O regină care veghează – Elisabeta, o regină care visează – Carmen Sylva (A Queen who watches – Elisabeta. A Dreaming Queen – Carmen Sylva), the National Library of Romania paid tribute to the first Queen of Romania, on the 100^th anniversary of her death (1916-2016), through a photography exhibition opened on February 17, 2016. A series of images of Queen Elisabeth were selected from the Special Collections Photo Room: official portraits, photos taken in the intimacy of private spaces, but also snapshots during public events.

In addition to the images from the exhibition opened in 2016, this album includes some photographs previously unseen by the general public.

The Queen’s life is illustrated chronologically with photographs from the years leading up to her marriage to Prince Carol I of Romania (1869), then with photos that refer to the main events of her life after coming to Romania: the joy of motherhood and the pain of losing her daughter, Princess Maria; the moment of involvement in the War of Independence (1877-1878), when she played an active role in caring for the wounded; the Coronation on May 10, 1881, as Queen of Romania alongside King Carol I. Also featured are photographs highlighting her work as a woman of letters, lover of the arts, and supporter of both the country’s young artistic talents and her numerous charitable associations.

Queen Elisabeta knew how to use photography to promote the image of the Royal House of Romania, being immortalized by the most important photographers in Romania. We will thus find in the album photographs by Franz Duschek, Franz Mándy, A. Brand, I. Nicolescu, the Foto-Glob studio in Bucharest, H. N. Haydvogel from Curtea de Argeş, who made some of the last portraits of the Sovereign, in 1915. Through the selected photographs, the album A Queen who watches – Elisabeta. A Dreaming Queen – Carmen Sylva adds new nuances to the portrait of this complex and fascinating personality of Romanian history.

Bilingual edition (Romanian and English).

Project coordinator: Adriana Dumitran – Special Collections. Photographs Room.