Maestro Vladimir Beșleagă had his last journey on Friday, February 28. To pay him a last tribute, colleagues, officials and admirers of the writer's work came to the farewell ceremony, IPN reports.
The body of Vladimir Besleaga was laid on Thursday evening at the "Three Holy Hierarchs" Orthodox Church in Chisinau. In the morning, the coffin was brought to "Nicolae Sulac" National Palace, where the mourning rally began. A a moment of silence was observed in memory of the great writer at the start of the ceremony.
Minister of Culture Sergiu Prodan said that master Vladimir Beșleagă was and remains a great patriot: "Patriotism is not an easy thing. Patriotism is like love – if you declare it, it does not mean that you feel it. Master Beșleagă was, perhaps, one of the sincerest writers, one of the sincerest people on this earth. He always tried to convey this simplicity and sincerity to us."
"Today we are saying goodbye to Maestro Beșleagă with a smile on our faces. He lived a full life, a troubled life and, of course, the master's flight is not broken. It is up to us to make sure that, through the legacy he left us, the generations that will come will ensure that this flight will never be broken. Smooth flight, master!", said Sergiu Prodan.
Poet-academician, Ion Hadârcă paid homage on behalf of the academic community, of the writers' guild. "We are talking about a first-rate, incorruptible national conscience, a professional and moral model. I had the impression that he wrote day and night continuously, endless diaries, stories, memories," said the poet. Hadârcă stressed that "the writer's work deserves to be taken as a model of discipline, memory and professional diligence".
"We are really living emotional moment. They are the moments of bidding farewell to Maestro Beșleagă, a terribly difficult separation. Today we say goodbye to a great writer, a writing professional, a man who lived and survived through writing, an admirable man who was admired by colleagues and readers. Master Beșleagă thought with the heart and loved with reason. He had love for everyone," said the president of the Writers' Union of the Republic of Moldova Teo Chiriac.
"Smooth path to your delicate soul, gentle light. May God forgive you. Condolences to the family," said writer Maria Shlyakhtitski, director of the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Chisinau.
February 28 was declared a day of national mourning by a presidential decree. In all localities in the country, as well as at the diplomatic and consular missions of the Republic of Moldova abroad, the state flag is flown at half-mast.
Vladimir Beșleagă was born on July 25, 1931, in Mălăiești village of Grigoriopol district. His first novel, "Broken Flight" (1966), is recognized as one of the remarkable prose stories of the post-war period, one of the novels that changed the face of prose in Moldova. For special merits in the field of literature and civic involvement, in 1991 the writer was awarded the honorary title "People's Writer". In 2004, he received the Excellence Award of the Writers' Union of Moldova for his entire literary and publishing work.
The writer passed away on February 25, at the age of 93. Vladimir Beșleagă was buried at the Central Cemetery.
