Centers of Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe
Centers of Excellence in Central and Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: In the mid-1820s a certain Wallachian landlord, one of the leading figures of the local gentry, embarked on a two-year European journey that took him from Pest through Germany and Switzerland to Venice and Milan. During the trip he recorded in great detail whatever seemed relevant to him. In Vienna, for instance, charmed by the “merry and happy life of the people” and finding no reason for complaint except the dust raised by the impressive number of carriages, he made the rather odd attempt to visit an asylum. The director of that institution apologetically refused, explaining that the precarious mental condition of his patients might be worsened by the sight of the unusually dressed visitor wearing the Oriental cloak typical of his native country. Apart from its genuinely funny side, this incident is, nonetheless, symptomatic.

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