Foişorul de Foc în 1929
The Fire Watchtower in 1929
The first Fire Tower – Turnul Coltii – was built in
1715. Its presence within the urban landscape was
determined by the great number of fires that would
break out in Bucharest. The practical need for such
fire tower did not fade away even when the tower was
torn down, so that in 1890 one has started the
construction of a new supervising tower. The works
have lasted for two years and the project of the
Fire Tower was designed by George Mandrea, the
capital’s chief architect at that time. The outcome
was an imposing 42 m high building (a record height
at that time). The building was designed for
sheltering a water tank, thus providing a solution
to a town planning issue: the refurbishment of the
water supply systems in the eastern side of the
town. Ultimately, the building was assigned to the
firemen.
Since it had lost its utility, the Fire Tower was
transformed in 1963 in a museum of the firemen.
The tower in Ionescu’s photo is rendered by a
contre-plongée point of view, which emphasizes on
its slenderness.
The strategy enforced by Ionescu within this
composition is recovered by the image of the Triumph
Arch: the association of a non-animated element (the
Fire Tower in this case) that relates to
monumentality, to a glorious past with an animated
element (the salesman of …candy floss, pretzels
etc.) from the category of the «petits metiers»
(petty jobs), also denoting a lack of importance,
futility, uselessness….
