Romanian Masons

Constantin Argetoianu (1871-February 6, 1952) was a Romanian Freemason, politician, one of the best-known personalities of interwar Greater Romania, who served as the Prime Minister between September 28 and November 23, 1939. His memoirs, a cross section of Romanian society, were made known for the sharp critique of several major figures in Romanian politics (using a sarcastic tone which had made his previous political speeches notorious).

Born in Craiova as the son of Army general Ioan Argetoianu, he trained in Law, Medicine, and Letters at the University of Paris, and later entered the diplomatic service (1897).

Constantin Daniel Rosenthal (b. Pest, Hungary: Rosenthal Konstantin, 1820-July 23, 1851) was a Romanian painter, sculptor and Freemason of Hungarian birth and a 1848 revolutionary, best known for his portraits and his choice of Romanian Romantic nationalist subjects.

Born into a Jewish merchant family in Pest (part of the Austrian Empire at the time), he left the city at the age of seventeen in order to attend the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied archaeological drawing (graduating in 1839) and made his first Romanian acquaintance, the painter Ioan D. Negulici.

Dimitrie Bolintineanu (January 14 1819, Bolintin-Vale - August 20 1872, Bucharest) was a Romanian Mason, poet (though he wrote in many other styles as well), diplomat, politician, and a participant in the revolution of 1848.

He was of Macedonian Aromanian origins.

His many poems, of nationalist overtone, fueled emotions during the unification of Wallachia and Moldavia.

Dimitrie Bratianu (1818–1892) was the Prime Minister of Romania from 22 April to 21 June 1881 and Minister of Foreign Affairs from April 10, 1881 until June 8, 1881.

He was an active Mason in Lodge: "L'Athénée des Etrangers" and "La Rose du Parfait Silence".

Dimitrie Sturdza, in full Dimitrie A. Sturdza-Miclausanu (1833-1914), was a Romanian Freemason, statesman of the late 19th century, and president of the Romanian Academy between 1882 and 1884.

Born in Iasi, Moldavia, and educated there at the Academia Mihaileana, he continued his studies in Germany, took part in the political movements of the time, and was private secretary to Prince Alexander John Cuza. Sturdza afterwards turned against the increasingly unsanctioned rule of Cuza, and joined Ion Bratianu and others in the deposition of the Prince (1866), becoming a member of the Liberal government.

Duiliu Zamfirescu (October 30, 1858 - June 3, 1922) was a Romanian Freemason, novelist, poet, short story writer, lawyer, nationalist politician, journalist, diplomat and memoirist. In 1909, he was elected a member of the Romanian Academy, and, for a while in 1920, he was Foreign Minister of Romania. Zamfirescu is best remembered for his Comanestenilor literary cycle, comprising his novels Viata la tara, Tanase Scatiu, In razboi, Indreptari and Anna.

Born in Plainesti, Ramnicu Sarat County (present-day Dumbraveni, Vrancea County), he attended elementary school and gymnasium in Focsani, and later studied at the Matei Basarab High School in Bucharest (1873-1876), before entering the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Law. He graduated in 1880.

George-Valentin Bibescu (March 22, 1880, Bucharest - July 2, 1941, Bucharest), was a Romanian early aviation pioneer. Bibescu was Grand Master of Romanian Grand Lodge from 1911 to 1916.

He was instrumental in founding the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). He was co-founder of the Romanian Automobile Club (1901), and of the Romanian Olympic Committee (1914). Romania was among the first 6 nations in the world to organize car races. He is also the founder of Baneasa airport in Bucharest, which was build on the former estate of her aunt, Maria Bibescu, Countess of Montesquiou Fezensac.

Gheorghe Asachi or Asaki (March 1, 1788 - November 12, 1869) was a Moldavian-born Romanian prose writer, poet, painter, historian, dramatist and translator. An Enlightenment-educated polymath and polyglot, he was one of the most influential people of his generation. Asachi was a respected journalist and political figure, as well as active in technical fields such as civil engineering and pedagogy, and, for long, the civil servant charged with overseeing all Moldavian schools. Among his leading achievements were the issuing of Albina Romaneasca, a highly influential magazine, and the creation of Academia Mihaileana, which replaced Greek-language education with teaching in Romanian. His literary works combined a taste for Classicism with Romantic tenets, while his version of the literary language relied on archaisms and borrowings from the Moldavian dialect.

Gheorghe Grigore Cantacuzino (22 September 1833 - 22 March 1913), Freemason, was a Conservative Romanian politician who twice served as the Prime Minister of Romania: between 23 April 1899 and 19 July 1900 and between 4 January 1906 and 24 March 1907.

He was born into the Romanian noble Cantacuzino family and was a descendant of Romanian voivods and Byzantine Emperors. The Cantacuzino Palace of Bucharest (nowadays the George Enescu Museum) and the Cantacuzino Castle of Busteni were built by him.

Ion C. Bratianu (June 2, 1821 - May 16, 1891) was a Freemason and one of the major political figures of 19th century Romania. He was the younger brother of Dimitrie, as well as the father of Ionel, Dinu, and Vintila Bratianu.

Born to wealthy Arges landowners in Pitesti, the state of Wallachia, he entered the Wallachian Army in 1838, and in 1841 started studying in Paris. Returning to his native land, Bratianu took part, with his friend C. A. Rosetti and other young politicians (including his brother), in the 1848 Wallachian Revolution, and acted as prefect of police in the provisional government formed in that year.