Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble

Constantin Brâncuși, born in a Gorj village and by the 1930s working in Paris as one of the most radical sculptors alive, designed this ensemble for Târgu Jiu and completed it in 1938. Three works stand on a straight axis running from the river through the town: the Table of Silence, a low stone disc ringed by twelve hourglass-shaped stools; the Gate of the Kiss, a stone portal carved with the paired-eye motif drawn from his sculpture The Kiss; and, at the far end beyond the church, the Endless Column, a cast-iron shaft of rhomboid modules rising nearly thirty metres and designed to read as if it could continue upward without limit. The reduction of form is total and the pieces are usually described as a commemorative ensemble, but their importance is artistic: they are among the works that define twentieth-century sculpture, and they stand outdoors in a provincial park where anyone can walk up and touch them.

What you actually see

• The Endless Column - a rhomboid cast-iron shaft nearly thirty metres high.
• The Gate of the Kiss - a carved stone portal at the head of the park.
• The Table of Silence - a stone disc with twelve stools by the river.
• The axis - the alignment linking all three across the town.

When to go

Year-round and at any hour, since the works stand in open public space. Early morning and late evening light suits the column best. Autumn colour in the park around the Table of Silence is good. Winter emptiness suits the pieces particularly well.

Honest expectations

The three works are over a kilometre apart with ordinary streets between them, so this is a walk through a provincial town rather than a museum visit; interpretation on site is minimal. The column stands in a plain park beside a road. Anyone expecting a dramatic setting will find the surroundings modest, which is arguably part of the point.

Nearby

Tismana monastery lies west; the Transalpina and Polovragi are north and east.