Carol I Park in Bucharest is not just a green space for walks and relaxation, but also a place full of history and artistic symbols. Among the monuments that catch the visitors’ attention are the statues known as “The Giants,” two imposing stone figures that seem to guard the entrance to the park. Behind them, however, lies a dramatic story, one that speaks of love, jealousy, and a cursed destiny. 

The legend of the two brothers in love and the curse of impossible love

Few people today know that “The Giants” were once part of a larger artistic ensemble called “The Enchanted Grotto,” and that these statues are not mere works of art but representations of a legend passed down through generations. Their story is one with a bitter ending, in which love brought more suffering than fulfillment.

Folk tradition says that, long ago, there lived two strong and brave brothers who both fell in love with the same girl. The young maiden was delicate, and her charm made both of them wish to win her heart. Yet their love was not blessed, for jealousy crept into their souls and turned them from devoted brothers into fierce rivals.

The legend has several versions. In one of them, the girl, unable to choose between the two, threw herself into a waterfall, promising her heart to the one who would save her. Sadly, blinded by rivalry and pride, the brothers did not notice her sacrifice, and she was lost forever in the rushing waters. In another, darker version, the brothers, consumed by fury, could not accept that one of them would win. In their rage, they killed the girl. Realizing the horror of their deed, their pain and remorse were so great that their bodies turned to stone for eternity.

Thus, the love story remained a symbol of burning passion and of the jealousy that destroys everything in its path. The mountain dwellers connected this legend to the natural landscape near Bușteni. There, a waterfall was named Urlătoarea, recalling the cry of the lost girl, while the rocks that guard it were named Jepii, after the two brothers turned into stone.

The birth of “The Enchanted Grotto” in Bucharest

At the beginning of the 20th century, the story of the brothers and their Nymph was brought back to life in Bucharest through an ambitious artistic project. On the occasion of the 1906 General Romanian Exhibition, organized on Filaret Plain to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Carol I’s reign, architects and renowned sculptors were commissioned to create a monumental park.

Architect Remus Iliescu, together with sculptors Frederic Storck, Dimitrie Paciurea, and Filip Marin, designed a spectacular ensemble to embody the legend. Thus was born “The Enchanted Grotto,” composed of the two Giants, sculpted in Rusciuc stone by Storck and Paciurea, and the statue “The Sleeping Nymph,” carved in white marble by Filip Marin.

The composition had a powerful emotional force. The Giants were depicted with harsh features and tense expressions, suggesting rivalry and pain, while between them stood the delicate Nymph, a symbol of impossible love and sacrifice. The ensemble was not just a work of art but a visual staging of the legend, meant to stir emotion and reflection on human nature in the hearts of visitors.

The 1906 Exhibition and the symbolic role of the statues

The 1906 General Romanian Exhibition was a major event, intended to highlight the progress of modern Romania under King Carol I’s rule. 

Pavilions, constructions, works of art, and numerous cultural manifestations sought to showcase the nation’s achievements. In this context, “The Enchanted Grotto” and “The Giants” were not merely decorative elements but expressions of Romanian culture and myths.

Carol Park thus became an open-air museum, where nature, architecture, and art blended harmoniously. Among its most admired attractions was the ensemble dedicated to the brothers and the Nymph, reminding everyone of the fragility of love and the force of destiny.

The destruction of the ensemble and the mutilation of its symbol

Unfortunately, what had been conceived as a meaningful ensemble met a tragic fate. In the 1960s, the communist regime decided to redesign Carol Park. “The Enchanted Grotto” was demolished, and its elements were separated. 

The Giants were moved to the park’s main alley, near the entrance from Piața 11 Iunie, where they still stand today. Meanwhile, the Nymph was torn away from her rightful place and relocated to Herăstrău Park, left isolated and far from those who should have surrounded her for eternity.

This separation mutilated the ensemble’s symbolism. The two brothers, once guarding the fragile beauty of the Nymph, were left alone, stripped of their original meaning. In turn, the Nymph became an enigmatic and misunderstood presence in Herăstrău, deprived of her story and context.

The Giants of today and the almost lost memory

Today, for many visitors of Carol Park, “The Giants” are just two impressive statues that catch the eye through their size and expressiveness. Few still know the legend that connects them to the beautiful Nymph and to the tragic story of love consumed by jealousy.

Passersby see them as two enigmatic stone figures, unaware that they actually represent two brothers condemned to remain petrified for eternity, separated from the woman they loved. The Nymph, too, lives in forced solitude, stripped of context, like a puzzle piece thrown into the wrong picture.

A bitter ending to a story of love and destiny

The story of “The Giants” and their Nymph remains one of the most haunting legends brought to life through art. It speaks of the beauty of love, but also of its fragility, of the way jealousy and pride can destroy even the strongest of bonds.

If in Bușteni nature preserved the legend through waterfalls and rocks, in Bucharest the sculptors of the early 20th century tried to give it artistic form. Sadly, the troubled times of the past century scattered its meaning, separating the characters and mutilating the symbol. Today, only two silent Giants remain in Carol Park and a lonely Nymph in Herăstrău, witnesses to a love story with a bitter ending.

Perhaps the most painful curse is not the one that turned the brothers into stone after crime and suffering, but the oblivion that has settled over their story. For those who still know it, “The Giants” remain a reminder of the devastating power of passion and of the tragic fate of an impossible love.

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