The Mihai Eminescu Monument (Monumentul lui Mihai Eminescu) is a bronze memorial to Romania’s national poet in front of the Mihai Eminescu Central University Library in central Iași. Created by sculptor Ion Schmidt-Faur and completed in 1929, the monument combines a standing figure of Eminescu with allegorical sculptures and reliefs inspired by his work.
The project grew from a civic campaign launched in 1924, with money raised largely through public subscription. The Toma Cozma Popular Athenaeum, a local cultural association, organized the fundraising and a series of design competitions before Schmidt-Faur’s proposal was selected in 1928 by a jury chaired by writer Mihail Sadoveanu. The monument was erected in front of the University of Iași, on the site now occupied by the A.D. Xenopol statue.
In 1957, the monument was moved to its present position beside the university library. The site had previously been occupied by Olga Sturdza’s original Great Union Monument, which had been removed before the Second World War and was later destroyed.
Eminescu stands at the top of the tall pedestal wearing a heavy mantle, with seated figures representing Poetry and Philosophy below him. Two bronze reliefs develop the literary theme further: one depicts Cătălin and Cătălina from Luceafărul, while the other shows Stephen the Great rallying Moldavia after the Battle of Războieni. Verses from Eminescu’s Doina originally accompanied the latter scene but were removed in 1946 during the early communist period.
