Dozens of people gathered on January 15 at the bust of Mihai Eminescu located on the Alley of Classical Writers in Chisinau to mark 159 years of the birth of the great poet, Info-Prim Neo reports. Members of the central and local administrations, civil servants, writers, diplomats, children and old people laid flowers and participated in the cultural events dedicated to this holiday organized this year by the Chisinau City Hall and the Writers Union. “We have a people’s single poet - Mihai Eminescu. His personality is boundless, but it is worth trying to know as many of his works as possible. This way we will manage to know what was in Mihai Eminescu’s mind when he deal with all the problems,” Mayor of Chisinau Dorin Chirtoaca said. “Eminescu criticized the then political class for the incorrect decisions made. Not many things changed since then as regards the work of those that administer the country. Therefore, Eminescu is again and again contemporary,” the mayor said. Chirtoaca said that he loves Mihai Eminescu’s poems and stories as well as his analyses, philosophy and political studies. According to the Romanian Ambassador in Chisinau Filip Teodorescu, on this day one can meet all those that love Eminescu”. “Beyond the beauty of his poems, Eminescu represents the man that knew to gather us under the beautiful lines and pages of his writing,” Filip Teodorescu said. The works of Eminescu are very valuable for the president of the Moldova Noastra Alliance Serafim Urecheanu. “He was a promoter of our national culture and was the first to express his position on many things that took place in the society”. “Many of the things said by Eminescu then have the right to life nowadays,” Urecheanu said. Vlad Filat, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova, said that Eminescu is the greatest of the Romanians for all the Romanians. “For me, Eminescu means the Romanian language and we must work a lot to bring him in our homes. One should come with flowers and open heart to Eminescu,” the MP said. The youth organization of the PLDM shared ‘letters from Mihai Eminescu’ – verses written by the poet - among the participants in the event. According to the president of the organization George Mocanu, the event aims to bring the people closer to Eminescu and to spread and promote his works that carry important messages that we have yet to learn. He said that ‘the letters’ will be sent to the Government, Parliament and the Presidential Office as well. The event started at 11.00. No official from the central administration attended the event. By this hour, the Presidential Office had already laid wreaths to the bust of the writer. Mihai Eminescu was born in Botosani on January 15, 1850. He made his debut in Familia journal with the poem “De-as avea” (“If I Had”). Famous poems include Luceafarul ("Evening Star"), Oda in metru antic (“Ode in Ancient Meter”), and the five Scrisori (Epistles/Satires). Eminescu was active in the Junimea literary society, and worked as editor of Timpul, the official newspaper of the Conservative Party. The bard wrote 290 poems - 90 published during his life and 200 published after birth; stories - “Fat-Frumos din lacrima”, “Sarmanul Dionisos”, “La aniversare”, “Cezara”; plays - “Amor pierdut – Viata pierduta”, “Mira”, “Muresanu”, “Decebal”, “Gruia Sanger”, “Bogdan Dragos”, etc.