Cortegiul istoric al Serbărilor Unirii din 20 mai 1929. Un prim spectacol de reenacment românesc la Alba Iulia
The Historical Retinue from the Union Celebration on May 20th, 1929. A First Romanian Reenactment Show in Alba Iulia

Summary/Abstract: On May 29th, 1929, Alba Iulia, recently declared county capital, was the host of the most interesting part of the 1918 Union celebration – the historical parade. The celebration, in various forms, was to be performed in a wide number of European cities, thus benefitting of huge financing for the time – about 20 million lei (around 2,537 U.S. dollars back then, that is to say, 38,853 dollars today). The organisers were the governing party by means of an organising committee led by Sever Bocu. The event was intended to be of epic proportions and Alba Iulia was the most illustrative in this concern, the historical parade being the state of the art manifestation of the time. The organisers hired the best consultants available (the director of the National Theatre with his staff) because the image of Romania had to be perfect in front of the foreign delegates and press – over 50 publications from France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Romania. 300,000 to 500,000 viewers attended the parade, gathered on Horea’s Field, on the location of the present-day Union Park in Alba Iulia, in the presence of members of the royal family of Romania. The huge parade was described as “a living and moving history of our nation between the Danube, the Sea and the Carpathians” and also as “an expressive recursion of all the stages of Romanian civilization”. This event began and continued in chronological order from king Decebalus, to emperor Trajan, continuing with the founders of the Romanian countries – Radu Negru, Bogdan (although Dragos was the actual founder of Moldavia), Bucur the Shepherd, the famous kings Mircea the Elder and Stephen the Great, culminating with the famous Michael the Brave and the heroes of the Transylvanian struggle for liberty – Horea, Cloșca and Crișan along with Avram Iancu. Of course, other significant events of the Romanian history were manifested through the parade of the Independence War veterans and a dance symbolising the Union of the Romanian Principalities in 1859. The declared purpose of this parade was education in the first place, both for the local public and for the foreign attendees, a declaration of Romanian identity legitimised by centuries of existence and fighting and, needless to say, to make a lasting impression on the foreign press. Great emphasis was placed on authenticity (although it would be poorly nowadays, it was the best documented feature according to the knowledge of the time) and upon showmanship and performance (the consultants being master actors). The parade was declared the best part of the celebration due to everything it involved, but, as always, there were complaints regarding the general management of the people who, avid for knowledge and show, became a disorganised crowd. Therefore, although not the first such reenactment event on Romanian territory, it was a special one due to the number of active participants, due to the emphasis put on the Transylvanian history and the fact that it was held in Alba Iulia, the place where many of these events actually happened.

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