UNESCO Adds Five Constantin Brancusi Sculptures and the Appian Way to Its World Heritage List
During its 46th session in New Dehli, UNESCO announced the latest additions to its World Heritage List, including five outdoor sculptures by modernist master Constantin Brancusi in Romania—some of the few examples of his works in his home country—and the Appian Way, one of the most important routes connecting disparate parts of the Roman Empire. The UNESCO World Heritage List was established in 1972 to identify and preserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the global common heritage of humanity. Today, it includes 1,100 sites covering a wide range of historical, cultural and natural landmarks in more than 160 nations.
The restoration of Brancusi’s outdoor sculptures in Romania
Brancusi created a series of contemporary public art pieces in the small southwestern Romanian town of Targu Jiu between 1937 and 1938 as a tribute to the soldiers who died in World War I. The five sculptures, which include a monumental gate and a series of contemporary columns, are installed on a 1.5-km-long axis along Targu Jiu’s central Avenue of Heroes. “The granted recognition we have received forces us to protect the monumental ensemble, to keep it intact for future generations and humanity’s cultural memory,” said Romanian Culture Minister Raluca Turcan in a statement.
The UNESCO World Heritage List now includes the iconic, almost 30-meter-high Endless Column, described by many as a masterpiece of art and engineering. Originally commissioned by the National League of Gorj Women in 1935 to honor the soldiers who defended Târgu Jiu, it was completed in 1938. Brancusi, who was living in Paris at the time, was so moved by this commission that he refused payment for it. Made of zinc, brass-clad, cast-iron modules threaded onto a steel spine, the column is part of a three-sculpture ensemble with two travertine monuments called Gate of the Kiss and Table of Silence.
Since its installation, this public art piece has experienced alternating fortunes: considered unfavorably during the Communist era, an attempt to pull it down the column eventually failed but left it tilted and cracked, exposing the structure’s interior to the elements. The work was subsequently poorly maintained for years, and even after preservation interventions were approved following the end of the Communist regime, the sculpture has long lacked the needed protection and restoration, resulting in rust and degradation.
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Eventually, the World Monuments Fund intervened in the latter half of the 1990s, leading to a serious restoration operation at the site through a partnership with the Romanian government, the World Bank and American Express. Over six weeks of work, the Swedish Corrosion Institute and the Getty Conservation Institute evaluated the modules as salvageable, but the monument’s spine was eventually replaced with a stainless steel shaft. Additionally, the sculpture received further improvements around its structure, including the installation of lightning protection and permanent monitoring equipment. As of 2004, they’d added a visitor’s center with landscaping and circulation improvement in the surrounding area by Laurie Olin of Olin Studio, which was completed in 2006. The Gate of the Kiss and Table of Silence were also restored
In 2021, the sculpture was the subject of a legal fight between the government and Brancusi’s heirs, who sued the city for reproducing its image without following the copyright indications, continuing the seemingly endless saga of controversies surrounding the simple column. Meanwhile, the government has repeatedly tried to suspend the copyright on the public works of Constantin Brancusi, who was born in the Carpathian Mountains in the small village of Hobita where he started his journey into art through traditional craftsmanship, learning woodworking techniques in his youth.
After moving to Paris in 1904, the artist joined avant-garde art circles, working for the first time under Auguste Rodin. From him, Brancusi absorbed a new approach to modern sculpture, which he then pushed further, truly distilling the space of subjects. He left Rodin’s studio in 1907, saying, “Nothing grows under big trees.” Using a vocabulary of simplified forms that went further toward abstraction compared to his teacher Rodin, Brancusi created highly imaginative sculptures that evoked their subjects rather than resembling them. In distilling their pure essence into highly simplified forms, he archived the perfect blend of figuration and abstraction, making those figures so universal that they transcend all cultural specificities in a new sense of “classic.”
Why the Appian Way is worth preserving
The Appian Way (Via Appia Antica), the earliest and most important of Roman roads, is the 60th Italian heritage site on UNESCO’s list. Italian Culture Minister Gennaro Sangiuliano said the addition acknowledged the “universal value of an extraordinary work of engineering that has been essential for centuries for commercial, social and cultural exchanges with the Mediterranean and the East.”
It was arguably one of the super-highways of its day. Constructed in 312 BC by Appius Claudius Caecus, the Via Appia originally connected Rome to the southern city of Capua, and was later extended to Brindisi, a port city on the heel of Italy’s boot. The road was crucial for military and economic purposes, allowing the rapid movement of troops and trade goods across the Italian peninsula. As the Republic expanded into an Empire, the Appian Way played a significant role in its growth, allowing communication with and control over the distant territories.
As the “Queen of Roads” (Regina Viarum), the Via Appia was a walkable marvel of engineering, featuring a durable surface of large stone slabs and a sophisticated drainage system. Today, remnants of the road can still be seen—the most visited stretch is in Appia Antica Regional Park—and its path is dotted with ancient ruins, catacombs and monuments, offering a glimpse into the grandeur of Rome’s past.