Badea Cârțan

Badea Cârțan
Born	Gheorghe Cârțan (1849-01-24)January 24, 1849 Cârțișoara, Austrian Empire
Died	August 7, 1911(1911-08-07) (aged 62)
Occupation	Shepherd

Badea Cârțan (roughly: Brother Cârțan – the common nickname of Gheorghe Cârțan; 24 January 1849 – 7 August 1911) was a self-taught

He was born in Cârțișoara, present-day Sibiu County, the second child of poor peasants (Nicolae and Ludovica) who were former serfs, and he spent his childhood tending sheep at the edge of his village. In between his later brushes with fame, he would always return to this activity. He became the head of his family on 2 October 1865 with the death of his father.

Cârţan first crossed the mountains into the

Cârțan made a journey on foot to Rome, and when he arrived at the city's edge after 45 days, said, "Bine te-am găsit, maica Roma" ("Pleased to meet you, mother Rome"). He wished to see Trajan's Column with his own eyes, as well as other evidences of the Latin origin of the Romanian people. After pouring Romanian soil and wheat at the column's base, he wrapped himself in a peasant's coat (cojoc) and fell asleep at the column's base. The next day he was awakened by a policeman who shouted in amazement, "A Dacian has fallen off the column!", as Cârţan was dressed just like the Dacians carved into the column; the event was reported in Roman newspapers and Duiliu Zamfirescu, Romanian representative in Italy, showed him around the city and introduced him to its important personalities. This January-February 1896 trip was but one of three visits to Rome; on his last, in October 1899, on the occasion of a meeting of the International Congress of Orientalists, he laid a wreath at the column's base.

Cârțan also visited France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Egypt and Jerusalem.

He was buried in Sinaia, on soil belonging to independent Romania (Transylvania still being seven years away from its post-World War I union with Romania); on the stone cross atop his grave is inscribed the phrase: "Aici doarme Badea Cârțan visând întregirea neamului său" ("Here lies Badea Cârțan dreaming of the unity of his people").

References

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• Dicţionar enciclopedic român, Editura Politică, Bucharest, 1962
• (in Romanian) 2004 statement on Cârţan by Romanian MP Victor Bercăroiu
• (in Romanian) Biography
• (in Romanian) "Dacul din Columna" ("The Dacian from the Column"),
  Jurnalul Naţional
  , 10 April 2005
• (in Romanian) Mari Români - Cârţan came in 100th place in the
  2006 contest to determine the Greatest Romanian
  .