Located in the courtyard of the Alexandru and Aristia Aman County Library, the Elena Farago Memorial House was decorated in honor of the the poetess who led this house of culture for over 30 years, being the only house of this kind in southern Craiova city. In fact, both the building where the Elena Farago Memorial House is located, as well as the building where the library headquarters are operating, were donated by Alexandru and Aristia Aman spouses to the Craiova City Hall, for the establishment of "a free library and a museum for the dissemination of the cult of beauty itself."

"The two buildings are emotional evidence of the Aman spouses' generosity. Alexandru, the younger brother of the famous painter Theodor Aman, and his wife Aristia, left their entire fortune - houses, furniture, paintings, books and art objects - to the City Hall of Craiova, for the establishment of a cultural institution: the Aman Foundation, made up of the library, the museum and a painting gallery. The Alexandru and Aristia Aman Foundation was inaugurated on 21 September 1908, in the attendance of the Public and Cults Minister Spiru Haret, other renown figures, such as Nicolae Romanescu also attended the event. These two buildings were constructed by Grigorie Laceanu spouses, the parents of Aristia, who takes her husband's name after the marriage (Aman) and who received this inheritance from her parents. The building where the Elena Farago Memorial House and the library's administrative offices are now located were built as a home for the family's servants, and later became the home of those working for the library and the museum," Custodian of the Elena Farago Memorial House Letitia Toma told AGERPRES.

Appointed as director of the Aman Foundation in September 1921, the poet of Greek descendance, Elena Farago, friend of the great Historian Nicolae Iorga, and the former governess of playwright Ion Luca Caragiale, led the destinies of this house of culture for over three decades, living and creating in the house which hosts today a part of the spiritual wealth that she left behind.

"The poetess arrived in 1907 in Craiova, together with her husband, Francis Farago, and having nowhere to stay, she was accommodated in this house. Why? Although we regard her as an Olt county personality, Elena Farago was born on 29 March 1878, in a Greek family from eastern Barlad, the daughter of Francisc and Anastasia Paximade. At the age of 12, in 1890, when she only was in the 2nd grade, she received a heavy blow when her mother died and she was forced to drop out of school. She becomes the support of the father in raising the six younger brothers. Five years later, in 1895, she received a new blow: her father died, and the brothers were scattered among relatives to be cared for. Elena arrives in southeastern Braila, with her maternal uncle, and, at 17 years old, she falls ill and is admitted to the Coltea Hospital in Bucharest, where her older brother lived. He welcomes her in his house during her convalescence. After recovery, she remains in Bucharest and has to work to support herself. This is how she ends up being the governess of I. L. Caragiale's children, who, after learning her life story, would have said: 'a life worthy of a novel, a subject for a drama'. In Caragiale's house, she got to know the real literature of the classics and it was also here, in 1900, where she met her future husband, Francisc Farago," Letitia Toma recounts.

In 1900, Elena, together with her husband, who was appointed director of a branch of the Romanian General Bank, heads to southeastern Constanta, where the couple stayed until 1907, when they resettled to Craiova, this is where the 1907 Romanian Peasants' Revolt caught them. In Craiova, they lived in today's memorial house, where the poetess remained for the rest of her life, until 1954.

"In Craiova, she was a member of the committee of the prestigious magazine Ramuri/Branches. Nicolae Iorga asked the poetess to go to the villages of Oltenia to distribute financial aid, from the Neamul Romanesc magazine, to the peasants' families who suffered after the Revolt in 1907. She was even arrested, but released the next day. In the same year, she adopted Mihnea, and after this adoption, after a good deed, in 1913, she gave birth to her own daughter, Coca (Ana Virginia) Farago. Both children graduated Architecture, and, in one of the showcases, we have an exhibition with Coca Farago's first pieces exhibited at the Intercontinental Hotel in Bucharest. Both children lived in Bucharest. In 1921, the poetess was appointed director of the Alexandru si Aristia Aman Foundation, which was later transformed into a library, being the longest-serving director of this institution. From 1921 until 1954, when she passed away, she remained director, even after retiring from the Writers' Union, she remained the honorary director. The library staff looked after her and she is buried at the Ungureni Cemetery in Craiova," Letitia Toma said.

While heading the Aman Foundation, the library received the largest book donation, from former mayor Nicolae Romanescu, who gave away his books to Craiova city, as well as most of his estates. The poetess herself registered these books. "We have the entries with her writing. We also keep the poetess's typewriter, where she wrote the poems," the custodian of the Elena Farago Memorial House revealed.

Currently, in the house where Elena Farago lived, there are the administrative offices of the Aman Library and a permanent exhibition in the rooms inhabited by the poetess, which includes 396 exhibits: original documents, letters, photocopies, family photos, correspondence, books and magazines, personal items, pieces of furniture, various items that belonged to the poetess and her family. It is the only memorial house in Craiova and is visited annually by hundreds of people.

Poetess Elena Farago received numerous awards and distinctions, as well as the title of honorary citizen of Craiova. She wrote the following volumes: Versuri (Lyrics) 1906, Soaptele din umbra (Whispers from the Shadows) 1908, Din taina vechilor raspantii (From the secret of the old crossroads) 1913, Soaptele amurgului (Twilight Whispers) 1920, Poezii (Poems) 1937. She also wrote poems for children: Copiilor... (To Children ...)1913, Sa fim buni (Let us be better) 1923, Din traista lui Mos Craciun (From Santa Claus' bag) Bobocica (Little blossom), Sa nu plangem (Let's not cry), Ziarul unui motan (The newspaper of a Tom cat), 4 gaze nazdravane (4 naughty insects) and so on, which stand out because they depict delicate feelings, especially love and motherhood. Among her most beloved and well-known poems are Catelusul schiop (The gimpy puppy), Sfatul degetelor (The fingers' convention), Motanul pedepsit (Tom cat grounded), Gandacelul (Little bug), Mos Craciun (Santa Claus). She translated works by H. Ibsen, Fr. Nietzsche, as well as from classical and symbolist French poetry, from Anatole France.

She was awarded the Romanian Academy Award (1908, 1920), the Femina Award (1925), the National Poetry Award (1937).

The poetess had turned her house into a real literary salon, where she welcomed her friends, prominent personalities of the Romanian cultural life with whom she maintained an extensive correspondence: Nicolae Iorga, Eugen Lovinescu, Liviu Rebreanu, Mihail Dragomirescu, George Toparceanu.AGERPRES(RO - author: Maria Mitrica, editor: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - author: Rodica State, editor: Adina Panaitescu)