If you're in Bucharest these days don’t miss the exhibition "Paris Peace Treaties (1919-1920): Towards an Architecture of European Peace", which focuses on the contribution of Romanian diplomacy to the preparation and conduct of the Paris Peace Conference and includes a series of photographs and documents illustrating some of the most important international events of 1919-20 that brought the First World War to a final conclusion.
Based on the realities created by the dissolution of the great multinational empires as well as the principles formulated by Woodrow Wilson in 1918, the leaders gathered in and around Paris in 1919-20 anchored their negotiations in the principles of self-determination and protection of national minorities. For the first time the scientific expertise provided by specialist in fields like international law, history, statistics, cartography, linguistics, ethnography played an important role in the decision-making process.
The exhibition includes a selection of reproductions in digital format based on diplomatic documents, photographs and press clips of the period, as well as of peace treaties signed by Romania, which are kept in the Diplomatic Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, thus offering a unique perspective on the negotiations. The originals of the peace treaties are also on display.
The exhibition looks at this pivotal moment in its historical context, drawing lessons relevant today especially with regard to the promotion of the values and principles that ushered a new European reality after the First World War, like democracy and the aspiration for peace and general welfare, which after 1945 would be incorporated into the construction of the European institutions.
The exhibition is open to the public between June 4-14, 2022, at the Romanian Cultural Institute in Bucharest.