Mr Virgiliu N. Drăghiceanu (1879–1964) was a Romanian historian, archaeologist, museographer and conservationist who played a major role in protecting and saving Romania’s national heritage. In 1907, he started working for the Ministry of Cults (public servant and director), the Historical Monuments Commission (1892–1847). Between 1907 and 1938, he headed the department handling the collections preserved in the museums covered by the Commission. He was secretary of the Editorial Committee of the Bulletin of the Historical Monuments Commission, also a secretary director and an acting member of the Commission over January 1938–June 1940. Further to a proposal by the famous historian Nicolae Iorga, Virgiliu N. Drăghiceanu became a corresponding member of the Romanian Academy (1926–1947). His most important work involved archaeological excavations in Wallachia’s old royal courts: Câmpulung, Curtea de Argeș and Târgoviște, but also the inscriptions on the discovered monuments. He is the one who discovered the tomb of Constantin Brâncoveanu on the premises of the church of Sfântul Gheorghe Nou in Bucharest (1914), but also the princely tomb (of Radu Negru-Vodă) in Curtea de Argeș (July 1920).
Part of the book: Heritage