The bust of Alexandru Marghiloman

THE BUST OF ALEXANDRU MARGHILOMAN Alexandru Marghiloman was born in Buzău on 27th January 1854. He was president of the Conservative Party from 1914 to 1925. He was a minister in several governments and Prime Minister of Romania from 5th March to 24th October 1918. He organised the first horse races in Romania, in 1874, at Floreasca Hippodrome of Bucharest, and contributed to the construction of Băneasa Hippodrome (1881). He was vice-president of the Romanian Jockey Club and built the first real hippodrome base in Romania at Buzău. In 1897 he built Villa Albatros, named after one of his favourite stallions. Alexandru Marghiloman initially declared himself in favour of Romania’s neutrality at the beginning of the First World War, and after the country’s entry into the war he had the difficult task of remaining, as a political reserve, in the territory occupied by the Central Powers. On 5th March 1918 he was commissioned by King Ferdinand I to form the government. As Prime Minister, on 27 March 1918 he received in Chisinau the Declaration of the Council of the Country on the union of Bessarabia with Romania, and on 7th May 1918 he signed the Peace Treaty with the Central Powers. The great politician died on 10th May 1925 and he was buried with national funeral services in the family vault in Bellu Cemetery of Bucharest. His bust of bronze, the work of artist Emil Pricopescu of Buzău, was placed in 2001 in the courtyard of „Alexandru Marghiloman” Theoretical High School.