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. Tzuica (forever) - For making Romania a better place!
2. Doru 'Soimu Barosan' Muresan (1986-present) - An incredibly intelligent and handsome computer programmer, who in 2013 found the cure for testicular cancer"
3. Fernando de la Caransebes (1985-present) - Philosoph and artist best knowns for his song "M-am casatorit!"
4. Horea Mustea (1983-present) - Philosoph and artist best known for "gauron"
5. Stephen the Great (1435-1504) - prince of Moldavia won renown in Europe for his long resistance to the Ottoman Turks
6. 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
7. Mihai Eminescu (1850 – 1889) - late Romantic poet, widely considered to be the most influential Romanian poet
8. Mihai Viteazul (1558 – 1601) - Prince of Wallachia, he achieved the first union of Wallachia, Transylvania and Moldavia (the three principalities largely inhabited by Romanians)
9. Richard Wurmbrand (1909 – 2001) - evangelical Christian minister, author and educator who spent a total of fourteen years in communist prison
10. Ion Antonescu (1882 – 1946) - the prime minister and leader of Romania during World War II
11. Mircea Eliade (1907 – 1986) - researcher and professor of the history of religions, Orientalist and novelist
12. 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
13. Constantin Brâncuși (1876 – 1957) - famous modern sculptor
14. 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
15. Nicolae Ceaușescu (1918 – 1989) - last communist president of Romania
16. Vlad Țepeș (1431 – 1476) - Prince of Wallachia
17. Gigi Becali (1958 – ) - politician and businessman, football club owner
18. Henri Coandă (1886 – 1972) - inventor and aerodynamics pioneer
19. Gheorghe Hagi (1965 – ) - football player
20. Ion Luca Caragiale (1852 – 1912) - playwright and short story writer
21. Nicolae Iorga (1871 – 1940) - historian, writer, and politician
22. Constantin Brâncoveanu (1654 – 1714) - Prince of Wallachia
23. George Enescu (1881 – 1955) - composer and musician
24. Gregorian Bivolaru (1952 – ) - founder of MISA yoga organization
25. Mirel Rădoi (1980 – ) - football player
26. Corneliu Zelea Codreanu (1899 – 1938) - leader of a Romanian nationalist movement during the 30s
27. Nicolae Titulescu (1882 – 1941) - diplomat, president of the League of Nations
28. Ferdinand I of Romania (1865 – 1927) - King of Romania during World War I
29. Mihai I (1921 – ) - last King of Romania before communist period
30. Decebalus (87 – 106) - last King of Dacia before Roman conquest
31. Traian Băsescu (1951 – ) - politician, former President of Romania
32. Gheorghe Mureșan (1971 – ) - NBA basketball player
33. Ion I. C. Brătianu (1864 – 1927) - liberal politician, Prime Minister of Romania for five terms
34. Răzvan Lucescu (1969 – ) football player and football club manager
35. Nicolae Paulescu (1869 – 1931) - physiologist, the discoverer of insulin
36. Iuliu Maniu (1873 – 1953) - politician
37. Iuliu Hossu (1885 – 1970) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
38. Emil Cioran (1911 – 1995) - philosopher, writer, and essayist
39. Avram Iancu (1824 – 1872) - leader of the 1848 revolution in Transylvania
40. Burebista (? – 44 BC) - King of Dacia
41. Marie of Romania (1875 – 1938) - Queen of Romania
42. Petre Țuțea (1902 – 1991) - philosopher, victim of the communist regime
43. Corneliu Coposu (1914 – 1995) - politician, victim of the communist regime
44. Aurel Vlaicu (1882 – 1913) - inventor, aviation pioneer
45. Iosif Trifa (1888 – 1938) - Eastern Orthodox priest, founder of the "Oastea Domnului" ("Lord's Army") Christian organisation
46. Nichita Stănescu (1933 – 1983) - poet and essayist
47. Ion Creangă (1837 – 1889) - writer
48. Mădalina Manole (1967 – 2010) - pop singer
49. Corneliu Vadim Tudor (1949 – ) - strongly nationalistic politician, writer and journalist; founder and leader of the Greater Romania party
50. Traian Vuia (1872 – 1950) - inventor, aviation pioneer
51. Lucian Blaga (1895 – 1961) - poet, playwright, and philosopher
52. George Emil Palade (1912 – 2008) - cell biologist, winner of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (1974)
53. Ana Aslan (1897 – 1988) - biologist, physician and inventor, the author of essential research in gerontology
54. Adrian Mutu (1979 – ) - football player
55. Florin Piersic (1936 – ) - theater and film actor
56. Mihail Kogălniceanu (1817 – 1891) - politician and historian, first Prime Minister of the United Principalities of Romania
57. Iancsi Korossy (1926 – 2013) - jazz pianist
58. Dimitrie Cantemir (1673 – 1723) - Prince of Moldavia and prolific man of letters
59. Ilie Năstase (1946 – ) - tennis player
60. Gheorghe Zamfir (1941 – ) - musician, pan flute player
61. Gică Petrescu (1915 – 2006) - musician, folk and pop music composer and singer
62. Elisabeta Rizea (1912 – 2003) - anti-communist partisan
63. Bulă (fictional) - a stock character of Romanian jokes
64. Amza Pellea (1931 – 1983) - theater and film actor
65. Matei Corvin (1443 (?) – 1490) - King of Hungary
66. Mircea cel Bătrân (1355 – 1418) - Prince of Wallachia
67. Titu Maiorescu (1840 – 1917) - literary critic and politician
68. Toma Caragiu (1925 – 1977) - theater and film actor
69. Mihai Trăistariu (1979 – ) - pop singer
70. Andreea Marin (1974 – ) - TV show host
71. Emil Racoviță (1868 – 1947) - biologist, speleologist and explorer of Antarctica
72. Victor Babeș (1854 – 1926) - biologist and early bacteriologist, one of the founders of microbiology
73. Nicolae Bălcescu (1819 – 1852) - leader of the 1848 Wallachian Revolution
74. Horia-Roman Patapievici (1957 – ) - writer and essayist
75. Ion Iliescu (1930 – ) - first President of Romania after the 1989 revolution
76. Marin Preda (1922 – 1980) - novelist
77. Eugen Ionescu (1909 – 1994) - playwright, one of the initiators of the theatre of the absurd
78. Dumitru Stăniloae (1903 – 1993) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian
79. Alexandru Todea (1905 – 2002) - Greek-Catholic bishop, victim of the communist regime
80. Tudor Gheorghe (1945 – ) - singer and theater actor
81. Ion Țiriac (1939 – ) - tennis player and businessman
82. Ilie Cleopa (1912 – 1998) - Eastern Orthodox archimandrite
83. Arsenie Boca (1910 – 1989) - Eastern Orthodox priest and theologian, victim of the communist regime
84. Bănel Nicoliță (1985 – ) - football player
85. Dumitru Cornilescu (1891 – 1975) - Eastern Orthodox, then Protestant priest, translated the Bible into Romanian in 1921
86. Grigore Moisil (1906 – 1973) - mathematician and computing pioneer
87. Claudiu Niculescu (1976 – ) - football player
88. Florentin Petre (1976 – ) - football player
89. Marius Moga (1981 – ) - pop music composer and singer
90. Nicolae Steinhardt (1912 – 1989) - writer
91. Laura Stoica (1967 – 2006) - pop and rock singer, composer and actress
92. Cătălin Hâldan (1976 – 2000) - football player
93. Anghel Saligny (1854 – 1925) - engineer
94. Ivan Patzaichin (1949 – ) - flatwater canoer who won seven Olympic medals
95. Maria Tănase (1913 – 1963) - traditional and popular music singer
96. Sergiu Nicolaescu (1930 – 2013) - film director, actor and politician
97. Octavian Paler (1926 – 2007) - essayist
98. The Unknown Soldier - the Romanian soldier in the national tomb of the Unknown Soldier
99. Ciprian Porumbescu (1853 – 1883) - composer
100. Nicolae Covaci (1947 – ) - founder of the Phoenix rock band
101. Dumitru Prunariu (1952 – ) - first Romanian cosmonaut
102. Iancu de Hunedoara (c. 1387 – 1456) - Voivode of Transylvania, captain-general and regent of the Kingdom of Hungary
103. Constantin Noica (1909 – 1987) - philosopher and essayist
104. 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