Dinicu Golescu a member of the Golescu family

Golescu family

The Golescu family was an old boyar family of Wallachia, in what is now southern Romania. The earliest mention of them dates from the 15th century.-Members of the family:*Radu Golescu*Iordache Golescu*Dinicu Golescu*Zinca Golescu*Alexandru Golescu-Albu...

 of boyars, was a Wallachia

Wallachia

Wallachia or Walachia is a historical and geographical region of Romania. It is situated north of the Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians...

n Romanian

Romanians

The Romanians are an ethnic group native to Romania, who speak Romanian; they are the majority inhabitants of Romania....

 man of letters, mostly noted for his travel writings and journalism.

Born in Goleşti, Argeş County

Arges County

Argeș is a county of Romania, in Wallachia, with the capital city at Pitești.-Demographics:In 2002, it had a population of 652,625 and the population density was 95/km².*Romanians – 96%*Roma , and other.-Geography:...

, Dinicu was the son of Radu Golescu. Together with his older brother George (or Iordache), he studied at the Phanariote

Phanariotes

Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...

-founded Greek Academy in Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

.

In 1804, he married Zoe Farfara (1792–1879), with whom he had five children: Ana (1805–1878), Ştefan

Stefan Golescu

Ştefan Golescu was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for two terms from March 1, 1867 to August 5, 1867 and from November 13, 1867 to April 30, 1868, and as Prime Minister of Romania between November 26, 1867 and May 12, 1868.-Biography:Born in a boyar...

 (1809–1874), Nicolae

Nicolae Golescu

Nicolae Golescu was a Wallachian Romanian politician who served as the Prime Minister of Romania in 1860 and May–November 1868.-Early life:...

 (1810–1877), Radu (1814–1882), and Alexandru Golescu Albu (1818–1873). All of his sons were to play prominent parts in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848

Wallachian Revolution of 1848

The Wallachian Revolution of 1848 was a Romanian liberal and Romantic nationalist uprising in the Principality of Wallachia. Part of the Revolutions of 1848, and closely connected with the unsuccessful revolt in the Principality of Moldavia, it sought to overturn the administration imposed by...

 and in the politics of Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

, as would his nephew, Alexandru Golescu Negru

Alexandru G. Golescu

Alexandru G. Golescu was a Romanian politician who served as a Prime Minister of Romania in 1870 .-Early life:...

In 1826, he published an account of his travels through Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, Însemnarea călătoriei mele ("Account of My Travel"), which is the first travelogue of a Romanian in Western Europe. He uses his travelogue

Travel literature

Travel literature is travel writing of literary value. Travel literature typically records the experiences of an author touring a place for the pleasure of travel. An individual work is sometimes called a travelogue or itinerary. Travel literature may be cross-cultural or transnational in focus, or...

 to study the administration and production systems in various countries, which he describes and recommends through comparisons with the situation at home. The text contains a plea for a general reform of domestic institutions in an "European" direction (based on Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

 ideas). Viewing European culture as more advanced, he managed, despite his middle age and the considerable difficulties he had in expressing himself, to convey a message of change. His travel journal had a great influence on the Romanian intelligentsia

Intelligentsia

The intelligentsia is a social class of people engaged in complex, mental and creative labor directed to the development and dissemination of culture, encompassing intellectuals and social groups close to them...

 of the time.

One of the founding members of the Bucharest Literary Society (1827), Golescu contributed to the issuing of the first Romanian-language

Romanian language

Romanian Romanian Romanian (or Daco-Romanian; obsolete spellings Rumanian, Roumanian; self-designation: română, limba română ("the Romanian language") or românește (lit. "in Romanian") is a Romance language spoken by around 24 to 28 million people, primarily in Romania and Moldova...

 newspaper to be published outside the country, Fama Lipschii pentru Daţia (1827, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

; its title translated as "The Fame of Leipzig for Dacia

Dacia

In ancient geography, especially in Roman sources, Dacia was the land inhabited by the Dacians or Getae as they were known by the Greeks—the branch of the Thracians north of the Haemus range...

"). He also helped Ion Heliade Rădulescu

Ion Heliade Radulescu

Ion Heliade Rădulescu or Ion Heliade was a Wallachian-born Romanian academic, Romantic and Classicist poet, essayist, memoirist, short story writer, newspaper editor and politician...

 launch Curierul Românesc, on 8 April 1829.

Dinicu Golescu died in Bucharest. His epitaph

Epitaph

An epitaph is a short text honoring a deceased person, strictly speaking that is inscribed on their tombstone or plaque, but also used figuratively. Some are specified by the dead person beforehand, others chosen by those responsible for the burial...

, written by Rădulescu, was published on 9 October 1830 in Curierul; it reads:

"Tu ai dispărut, scrierile tale îţi vor supravieţui, şi numele tău va rămîne scump ştiinţei precum şi celor ce se adapă de la izvoarele tale." ("You have vanished, [but] your writings will have outlived you, and your name shall remain treasured by science and by those who drink from the same sources as you.")

Bucharest's Gara de Nord

Gara de Nord

București Gara de Nord is the main railway station in Bucharest and the largest railway station in Romania...

was built on land owned by Dinicu Golescu. A nearby park and boulevard currently bear his name.