Brancusi's Endless Column: Targu-Jiu, Romania (World Monuments Fund)

The Endless Column Ensemble, by famed Romanian sculptor Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957), has been hailed as one of the great works of twentieth-century public art. Commissioned by the National League of Gorj Women to honour the soldiers who had defended the town of Tfrgu Jiu against a German force in 1916, the tripartite ensemble, erected between 1937 and 1938, is composed of the Endless Column, a 30-metre-high column of zinc and brass-clad, cast-iron modules, and two stone monuments: the Gate of the Kiss and Table of Silence. Over the years the elements took their toll on the sculpture, and although the Column s modules had been replated several times since its construction, by the 1990s it was in dire need of conservation. This stunningly llustrated volume celebrates the history of this extraordinary work of art and tells the story of its recent restoration, landscaping and presentation, supported in large part by the World Monuments Fund (WMF). Brancusi s Endless Column Ensemble launches a s