42 Facts About Ioan Kalinderu

Ioan Kalinderu stayed on as Carol's legal adviser, helping him in direct negotiations with the National Liberal and Conservative political machines, and was several times considered for the office of Prime Minister.

Ioan Kalinderu viewed these methods as a working alternative to land reform, defending property rights during and after the peasants' revolt of 1907.

Ioan Kalinderu was praised for his passion and dedication, but criticized for the uncertainty of their outcome.

Ioan Kalinderu identified as Greek-Romanian and, as late as 1879, was ktitor of an eponymous Greek Orthodox church in Bucharest.

Ioan Kalinderu's fully assimilated son later barred the Greek colony from attending the church, and rededicated it to Romanian Orthodoxy.

Ioan Kalinderu then became a counselor with the Court of Cassation.

In 1875, Ioan Kalinderu joined the National Liberals in opposing the concession of the Predeal railway to the Englishman George Crawley; alongside party leaders Ion Bratianu and Dimitrie Sturdza, he created an investment firm that tried to compete with Crawley for the contract.

Ioan Kalinderu maintained his office in Berlin until 1882, representing the newly established Kingdom of Romania.

Ioan Kalinderu earned additional favors from Carol I, crowned King of Romania, who appointed him his adviser on legal and agricultural matters.

In June 1884, Ioan Kalinderu was named the first administrator of crown domains, which had been set aside by organic law, resigning from his position at the railways company in December 1885.

Ioan Kalinderu ran for Bucharest Council in 1886, second on the National Liberal list.

Ioan Kalinderu withdrew upon winning, citing his "many other engagements".

Ioan Kalinderu eventually handled the purchase of Strousberg railways, negotiating a loan for 175 million lei in 1889.

Ioan Kalinderu served as Academy president from 1904 to 1907.

Ioan Kalinderu reported to his former Berlin colleague Sturdza, by then the National Liberal Prime Minister, that Carol had dismissed him, then negotiated a reunification of the Conservatives and Junimea defectors, prompted by the king's wish to have a stable government party.

Ioan Kalinderu had declined offers to replace Sturdza himself, favoring Theodor Rosetti or Ioan Lahovary for that position.

In 1896, Ioan Kalinderu restored the church on his own estate of Schitu-Greci, radically altering the overall design.

Ioan Kalinderu was particularly concerned with building and restoring Orthodox religious buildings on the king's domain, personally involved in restoring and refurbishing the church of Balteni-Peris.

Ioan Kalinderu supervised model farms, wrote a textbook for crown agents, and ordered the founding of cultural societies, the first appearing on a domain in 1897.

Ioan Kalinderu was the head editor, with George Cosbuc, Petre Dulfu, and Petre Vasiliu-Nasturel serving as co-editors.

Ioan Kalinderu was editor of Culture Ministry's newsletter, Buletinul Comisiunii Monumentelor Istorice, and of the forestry magazine, Revista Padurilor, serving as chairman of the Historical Monuments Commission, the Progress in Forestry Society, and the Royal Geographical Society.

Ioan Kalinderu was offered chairmanship of the Romanian Athenaeum, but regretfully declined, arguing that he was caught up in his agricultural work.

In 1906, following Sturdza's second fall from office, Ioan Kalinderu was again tipped as the likely Prime Minister.

Ioan Kalinderu established a dairy factory, as well as shops for weavers, ropemakers, wainwrights and woodturners, and showcased their products at the 1900 World's Fair.

Ioan Kalinderu reintroduced reforestation and forest farming where bad practices had affected the environment.

Ioan Kalinderu held the notion that the Romanian peasant was miserable for being illiterate, and that "all it takes is a set of favorable circumstances for him to display [his] talents".

Ioan Kalinderu took over his father's seat at Creditul Rural, which financed the cottage industry and, in 1906, was chaired by Sturdza.

Ioan Kalinderu was involved in the development of the Busteni mountain resort, where he built a paper mill and a high school that today bears his name.

Ioan Kalinderu promoted ski, and a slope there is named in his honor.

Zambaccian found his rival overall "harmless", even though he noted an incident in which an angry Ioan Kalinderu "decapitated" a work of sculpture.

Constantin Argetoianu observed that although Ioan Kalinderu lacked all inclination toward sport or riding, he would go out every morning on a nag he could barely ride.

The future Queen Marie was much amused by Ioan Kalinderu, describing him as "little, round, with a short beard and a pronounced Semitic nose; one of his eyes sparkled wickedly, showing an unusually sharp intelligence".

Ioan Kalinderu recalled a visit with him to Windsor Castle, where "it was truly amusing to see the short gentleman very pleased with himself, catching everything with his glimpse, weighing, judging, taking the measure of people and things, with that small, penetrating, almost wicked eye".

Furnicas George Ranetti circulated serious charges against Ioan Kalinderu, accusing him of having run over a child with his car, and implying that he had used his connections to avoid prosecution.

Reportedly, Ioan Kalinderu himself was generally aware of the mockery, but pretended to be "inviolable", and even incited Ranetti by riding his horse to his office.

Ioan Kalinderu spent the better part of 1913 in conflict with the Conservative government, headed by his old rival Maiorescu.

Against Maiorescu, Ioan Kalinderu tried to persuade Carol not to renew the pact tying Romania to the Triple Alliance.

Ioan Kalinderu made returns to scholarship, publishing in 1912 a commentary on the influence of Byzantine art on Romanian visual culture.

Ioan Kalinderu died in December 1913, and was buried at Bellu Cemetery, Plot 5, next to his father and his brother.

Ioan Kalinderu intended to disinherit his relatives and see his name praised after giving lavish donations to royal and academic institutions of culture; however, none of the wills were written in legal form, so that Ioan Kalinderu's wealth largely ended up going to his family.

Argetoianu claims that Ioan Kalinderu had prepared a will benefiting his favorite institution, but ended up "quarreling with the Academy one year before his death", and failed to clarify his intentions in due time.

In January 2014, the centennial of Ioan Kalinderu's death was solemnly marked by the General Association of Romanian Engineers, which discussed opening up a museum of the crown domains in Segarcea.