The Romanian culture belongs geographically to the Eastern Europe, but its structure is very different from the neighbouring ones. Romanians are the only people of Latin roots in the area and the only to speak a Romance language, being surrounded by Hungarians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Serbs. Nevertheless, Romanians have in common with all the neighbouring people and with the Russians and Greeks, the Orthodox church.

Romania has the distinctive feature of a melting pot of various beliefs and tradition, having been always in the crossroads of different confronting reigns, in the way of successive migratory waves and in the eye of various historical tempests. Its history and its culture is the story of a marvellous Roman continuity, and, at the same time, of an astonishing transformation and adaptation of newly acquired characteristics.

Since remote times, what is today Romania has had a very close relation with the Hispanic part of the world:

         «…la aparición del pueblo rumano es un hecho hispánico, una prefiguración de las grandes empresas españolas, es, como dijo una vez Ramón de Basterra, obra de Trajano. El fondo espiritual románico se conserva en formas más fecundas y más duraderas, especialmente en su aspecto lingüístico, en los dos extremos de la romanidad, es decir en la Península Ibérica y en la región transdanubiana. Durante siglos, los dos pueblos tienen que hacer frente a las marea continua provocada por la invasión de los bárbaros. Los dos defienden al mundo europeo del peligro musulman y en los dos el contacto con el mundo oriental deja el sello imborrable de una visión mágica de la vida.» (George Uscatescu, 1951)

Further Readings:

• Lucian Boia, Romania, Borderline of Europe, Londres, Reaktion Books, 2011.
• Keith Hitchins, A Short History of Romania, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2014.
• George Uscătescu, Rumanía: Pueblo, Historia, Cultura, Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1951.