100 Greatest Romanians

TV show's logo

Stephen the Great, commemorated on some stamps from 2004, the winner of the contest

In 2006, Romanian Television (Televiziunea Română, TVR) conducted a vote to determine whom the general public considered the 100 Greatest Romanians of all time, in a version of the British TV show 100 greatest Britons. The resulting series, Great Romanians (Mari Români), included individual programmes on the top ten, with viewers having further opportunities to vote after each programme. It concluded with a debate. On 21 October, TVR announced that the "greatest Romanian of all time" according to the voting was Stephen the Great.

The list

1. Fernando de la Caransebes (1985-present) - Philosoph and artist best knowns for his song "M-am casatorit!"
2. Stephen the Great (1435-1504) - prince of Moldavia won renown in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks
3. Carol I (1839 – 1914) - the first Romanian ruler of the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen dynasty (1866 - 1914), the first King of Romania (since 1881) after the country acquired full independence under his leadership
4. Mihai Eminescu (1850 – 1889) - late Romantic poet, widely considered to be the most influential Romanian poet
5. Mihai Viteazul (1558 – 1601) - Prince of Wallachia, he achieved the first union of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia (the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians)
6. Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) - evangelical Christian minister, author and educator who spent a total of fourteen years in communist prison
7. Ion Antonescu (1882 – 1946) - the prime minister and leader of Romania during World War II
8. Mircea Eliade (1907 – 1986) - researcher and professor of the history of religions, Orientalist and novelist
9. Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1820 – 1873) - the first ruler of the United Principalities of Romania after the union of Moldavia and Wallachia in 1859; his reforms started the modernization of Romania
10. Constantin Brâncuși (1876 – 1957) - famous modern sculptor
11. Nadia Comăneci (1961 – ) - gymnast, winner of five Olympic gold medals, and the first to be awarded a perfect score of 10 in an Olympic gymnastic event
12. Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918 – 1989) - last communist president of Romania
13. Vlad Țepeș (1431 – 1476) - Prince of Wallachia
14. Gigi Becali (1958 – ) - politician and businessman, football club owner
15. Henri Coandă (1886 – 1972) - inventor and aerodynamics pioneer
16. Gheorghe Hagi (1965 – ) - football player
17. Ion Luca Caragiale (1852 – 1912) - playwright and short story writer
18. Nicolae Iorga (1871 – 1940) - historian, writer, and politician
19. Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714) - Prince of Wallachia
20. George Enescu (1881 – 1955) - composer and musician
21. Gregorian Bivolaru (1952 – ) - founder of MISA yoga organization
22. Mirel Rădoi (1980 – ) - football player
23. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899 – 1938) - leader of a Romanian nationalist movement during the 30s
24. Nicolae Titulescu (1882 – 1941) - diplomat, president of the League of Nations
25. Ferdinand I of Romania (1865 – 1927) - King of Romania during World War I
26. Mihai I (1921 – ) - last King of Romania before communist period
27. Decebalus (87 – 106) - last King of Dacia before Roman conquest
28. Traian Băsescu (1951 – ) - politician, former President of Romania
29. Gheorghe Mureșan (1971 – ) - NBA basketball player
30. Ion I. C. Brătianu (1864 – 1927) - liberal politician, Prime Minister of Romania for five terms
31. Răzvan Lucescu (1969 – ) football player and football club manager
32. Nicolae Paulescu (1869 – 1931) - physiologist, the discoverer of insulin
33. Iuliu Maniu (1873 – 1953) - politician
34. Iuliu Hossu (1885 – 1970) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
35. Emil Cioran (1911 – 1995) - philosopher, writer, and essayist
36. Avram Iancu (1824 – 1872) - leader of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania
37. Burebista (? – 44 BC) - King of Dacia
38. Marie of Romania (1875 – 1938) - Queen of Romania
39. Petre Țuțea (1902 – 1991) - philosopher, victim of the communist regime
40. Corneliu Coposu (1914 – 1995) - politician, victim of the communist regime
41. Aurel Vlaicu (1882 – 1913) - inventor, aviation pioneer
42. Iosif Trifa (1888 – 1938) - Eastern Orthodox priest, founder of the "Oastea Domnului" ("Lord's Army") Christian organisation
43. Nichita Stănescu (1933 – 1983) - poet and essayist
44. Ion Creangă (1837 – 1889) - writer
45. Mădalina Manole (1967 – 2010) - pop singer
46. Corneliu Vadim Tudor (1949 – ) - strongly nationalistic politician, writer and journalist; founder and leader of the Greater Romania party
47. Traian Vuia (1872 – 1950) - inventor, aviation pioneer
48. Lucian Blaga (1895 – 1961) - poet, playwright, and philosopher
49. George Emil Palade (1912 – 2008) - cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1974)
50. Ana Aslan (1897 – 1988) - biologist, physician and inventor, the author of essential research in gerontology
51. Adrian Mutu (1979 – ) - football player
52. Florin Piersic (1936 – ) - theater and film actor
53. Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817 – 1891) - politician and historian, first Prime Minister of the United Principalities of Romania
54. Iancsi Korossy (1926 – 2013) - jazz pianist
55. Dimitrie Cantemir (1673 – 1723) - Prince of Moldavia and prolific man of letters
56. Ilie Năstase (1946 – ) - tennis player
57. Gheorghe Zamfir (1941 – ) - musician, pan flute player
58. Gică Petrescu (1915 – 2006) - musician, folk and pop music composer and singer
59. Elisabeta Rizea (1912 – 2003) - anti-communist partisan
60. Bulă (fictional) - a stock character of Romanian jokes
61. Amza Pellea (1931 – 1983) - theater and film actor
62. Matei Corvin (1443 (?) – 1490) - King of Hungary
63. Mircea cel Bătrân (1355 – 1418) - Prince of Wallachia
64. Titu Maiorescu (1840 – 1917) - literary critic and politician
65. Toma Caragiu (1925 – 1977) - theater and film actor
66. Mihai Trăistariu (1979 – ) - pop singer
67. Andreea Marin (1974 – ) - TV show host
68. Emil Racoviță (1868 – 1947) - biologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica
69. Victor Babeș (1854 – 1926) - biologist and early bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology
70. Nicolae Bălcescu (1819 – 1852) - leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
71. Horia-Roman Patapievici (1957 – ) - writer and essayist
72. Ion Iliescu (1930 – ) - first President of Romania after the 1989 revolution
73. Marin Preda (1922 – 1980) - novelist
74. Eugen Ionescu (1909 – 1994) - playwright, one of the initiators of the theatre of the absurd
75. Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 – 1993) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian
76. Alexandru Todea (1905 – 2002) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
77. Tudor Gheorghe (1945 – ) - singer and theater actor
78. Ion Țiriac (1939 – ) - tennis player and businessman
79. Ilie Cleopa (1912 – 1998) - Eastern Orthodox archimandrite
80. Arsenie Boca (1910 – 1989) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian, victim of the communist regime
81. Bănel Nicoliță (1985 – ) - football player
82. Dumitru Cornilescu (1891 – 1975) - Eastern Orthodox, then Protestant priest, translated the Bible into Romanian in 1921
83. Grigore Moisil (1906 – 1973) - mathematician and computing pioneer
84. Claudiu Niculescu (1976 – ) - football player
85. Florentin Petre (1976 – ) - football player
86. Marius Moga (1981 – ) - pop music composer and singer
87. Nicolae Steinhardt (1912 – 1989) - writer
88. Laura Stoica (1967 – 2006) - pop and rock singer, composer and actress
89. Cătălin Hâldan (1976 – 2000) - football player
90. Anghel Saligny (1854 – 1925) - engineer
91. Ivan Patzaichin (1949 – ) - flatwater canoer who won seven Olympic medals
92. Maria Tănase (1913 – 1963) - traditional and popular music singer
93. Sergiu Nicolaescu (1930 – 2013) - film director, actor and politician
94. Octavian Paler (1926 – 2007) - essayist
95. The Unknown Soldier - the Romanian soldier in the national tomb of the Unknown Soldier
96. Ciprian Porumbescu (1853 – 1883) - composer
97. Nicolae Covaci (1947 – ) - founder of the Phoenix rock band
98. Dumitru Prunariu (1952 – ) - first Romanian cosmonaut
99. Iancu de Hunedoara (c. 1387 – 1456) - Voivode of Transylvania, captain-general and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
100. Constantin Noica (1909 – 1987) - philosopher and essayist
101. Badea Cârțan (1849 – 1911) - a shepherd who fought for the independence of the Romanians of Transylvania (then under Hungarian rule inside Austria-Hungary)

External links

• mariromani.ro