A CROSS TO RAILWAY HEROES IN THE BUCEGI

A traveler that starts off from Prahovei Valley and reaches the center of Busteni is captivated by the panorama of the almost vertical wall of the Bucegi mountains, with the three main peaks: Omul (2,505 m), Cotila (2,490 m) and Caraimanul (2,384 m), and by the grandeur of an element that does not belong to nature: only two meters from the edge of the cliff, on the Caraiman summit, there is the Heroes' Cross - a monumental steel construction erected between 1926 and 1928 to the memory of the railway heroes dead in the line of duty during the first world war.
The cross was built by the Bridges Department, sections L5 and L1 (bridges) in Sinaia, after the blueprints of engineers Teofil Revici and Alfred Pilder, from the department led by eng. Victor Bruckner. Placed at an altitude of 2,291 m, the cross is 28 m high, with two seven-meter arms, and resting on a 7.5-meter high reinforced concrete foundation laid in stone. In the foundation there is a power generator that lights the 120 light bulbs, 500 watts each.
Looking at this majestic monument, one cannot help wondering how it was built, what means were used, and how the materials were delivered! We have asked and here is what we found out:
The tools, the wood, the steel parts and the other materials were hauled by train to the Busteni station. From here, part of the materials were shipped by ox carts between Busteni - Sinaia - Paduchiosul - Diciu - Buxcegi Plateau - Caraiman summit, and the rest, with the cable of the Busteni Paper Factory (owned by the Schiel brothers). The parts, anchored on the cable of the Paper Factory, were transported to Jepilor Valley into the Schiel Canton, on the Bucegi Plateau, and from there shipped by horse carts to Caraiman. All these operations were guided by Nicu Stanescu, hired by the Bucharest Bridges Department.
The monument was inaugurated on September 14, 1928, on the day of the Sacred Cross - the day of the Nation's Heroes. It was for the first time when the inhabitants of Upper Prahovei Valley watched the Heroes' Cross light up during the night. Since then, every traveler could see, on holidays, the monument lighting up the skies, a monument built to be admired. But, since a miracle does not last, dozens of years followed when the cross was shut off by the darkness of atheism.
In 1990, by a valuable effort of the Busteni Town Hall, of the inhabitants and several companies, repairs works started and the cross was lit up again. It was impressive not only for the locals, but for those who traveled during the night on the Prahovei Valley, and even for the airplane pilots flying over the Bucegi mountains. But the joy was short-lived because not long ago, a group of people whose minds were flooded with anti-Christian doctrines climbed on the cross and savagely destroyed the entire electrical installation.
Now, to our disappointment, the Heroes Cross on the Caraiman Summit again disappears in the dusk, and in the night it withdraws to join our heroes of the railroad, to meditate on the depravity and short-sightedness of some of our fellows.

Radu Bellu
Oana Bran