Bucharest, April 4 /Agerpres/ - The Romanian Academy celebrated 159 years since its founding with a festive session on Friday.

During the event, the president of the Academy, Ioan-Aurel Pop, emphasised that the institution's projects are integral to the major endeavors of Romania's national culture. He remarked that only the ignorant or malicious individuals could ignore the significance of these accomplishments.

Among the notable achievements highlighted by Pop was the 'Great Dictionary of the Romanian Language', a monumental work spanning 37 volumes, containing nearly 200,000 words and variants, along with over 1.3 million citations. This dictionary is considered one of the first eight of its kind among the 7,000 languages of the world. It was later reprinted in 19 volumes, each approximately 1,000 pages long, and included the original 37 volumes. The electronic version of the dictionary was completed between 2007 and 2010.

Pop also mentioned the 'Romanian Linguistic Atlas', consisting of 14 volumes based on historical regions and featuring hundreds of maps and tables. Other significant contributions included various specialised dictionaries (explanatory, practical, etymological, etc.), encyclopedias, critical editions, and the 'Treaty on the History of Romanians' - a 10-volume work averaging 1,000 pages per volume.

Additionally, Pop referred to the 40 volumes in the 'Centenar' collection, documenting the evolution of various fields of research and creation, and numerous thematic series, such as 'Basarabica'. He also highlighted the 324 titles in the collection of Romanian and universal literature classics, 'Fundamental Works', initiated by academician Eugen Simion.

He further pointed out that the Romanian Academy holds a vast intellectual and spiritual heritage of the Romanian people, with about 14 million items preserved in the Academy Library. In addition to books and articles, the Academy members and researchers publish 106 periodicals, most of which are high-level specialised journals now included in international databases.

This session not only celebrated the Academy's achievements but also underscored its central role in preserving and advancing Romania's cultural legacy. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Popescu; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)