The moment I found out, from TV and reading in the press, that there was a ghost living in the park near my house, my heart went crazy.
I found out about this ghost after more than ten years of nightly crossings of the park, because this park separates my neighborhood from the boulevard and from public transportation, i.e. the subway or the tram I used to take to work.
Obviously, I never met this ghost, called the Woman in White, because if I had, I think no one would be writing this story now.
You are wondering, I think, what a ghost is doing in this little park and especially where to hide because ghosts don't live in trees, they live, from what I have read and seen in movies, in houses, castles, mostly abandoned and dilapidated...
Well, there is such a thing in my park. In the middle of the park is an abandoned building, the former summer theater.
This summer theatre was built in 1953, so it is only a few months older than me but I can tell you, without being immodest, that I, however, look better than it...
And although I won't take a selfie so you can compare, I hope you'll take my word for it. All I can do is get closer to the construction for a better image.
The theatre appeared on the occasion of the Youth Festival in 1953 (3rd World Youth Congress and 4th World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and Friendship), it is part of a complex built at the same time on Bucharest Noi Boulevard and which includes several blocks, a cinema, and Bazilescu Park. It covers 17 hectares and revolves around the summer theatre, the main architectural objective.
The theatre has a socialist realist (Stalinist) architecture specific to the historical period, after the integration of Romania into the USSR sphere of influence, after the end of the Second World War (after 1944). It had an impressive capacity of over 2000 seats. The architecture, even if Stalinist, had great classical influences, specifically from ancient Greek architecture.
I found some photos from the time of construction in an article about this place, you can see more if you click on Source!
After 1990, with the exit of Romania from the influence of the USSR, this theatre, considered a symbol of communism, was abandoned and degraded due to weathering and destruction caused by people. After another ten years or so, when people started to wake up, they realized they would need this theater, closer to their homes, otherwise, all the theaters are clustered in the center of town, quite far from our neighborhood.
I continued photographing the abandoned theatre surrounded by a wire fence. Something started to move and I shuddered, remembering the ghost story, especially since I had learned in the meantime that this ghost was atypical... i.e. it slept at night and only haunted the park during the day!
I got scared for nothing... I was approached by a very friendly being who was eager for a cuddle.
He wasn't the ghost, he was the guardian, the defender of the theatre.
Fortunately, he considered me a friend and enjoyed spending some time together.
I asked him, of course, about the Woman in White, the ghost! He reassured me that the ghost was getting ready to leave...
And that's when he gave me the big news I'd been waiting for for years. The one that pushes the ghost to find another place to "live". The summer theatre will be repaired and be functional again!
After receiving this news, I closed my eyes and was thankful, happy that I would be able to see the miracle. When I opened my eyes I didn't see my little friend again. It suddenly disappeared, which made me think that maybe it was the Woman in White's pet dog. A conclusion that again made my heart race through my chest. I took one last look...
For over twenty years I have seen this building every day. I'm sorry now that it will be renovated, I got used to it, it was part of the landscape.
However, nothing is certain, so far there have been promises that it will be repaired and it hasn't happened. The current mayor, a French lady, seems more serious and I hope she keeps her word!
I say goodbye to the ghost in the park, the Woman in White, whom I called "the shy ghost" because she shied away from my eyes, probably knowing that the heart was my weak spot.
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
