Alexandru I. Lapedatu (14 September 1876 – 30 August 1950) was Cults and Arts and State minister of Romania, President of the Senate of Romania, member of the Romanian Academy, its president and general secretary.
Family Alexandru Lapedatu was the son of Ioan Alexandru Lapedatu, with a Ph.D. from the University of Brussels, Romanian poet, writer, journalist and professor for classical languages at the Higher Greek-Orthodox Romanian College in Brașov (today, Andrei Şaguna National College).
Alexandru Lapedatu had a twin brother, Ion Lapedatu, economist, politician and Governor of the National Bank of Romania. The twins became orphans when they were one and a half years old. Their mother could only rely on a modest social help from the Brașov municipality and some support from her family.
Alexandru Lapedatu married Victoria Pană (1878–1965) on 1 June 1911; a widow with two children from her first marriage, Mircea and Maria Lipăneanu. They had a daughter, Ana Victoria, also known as Mica (1914–1999).
Education Alexandru Lapedatu started 1883 the primary school in the village in which he was born, then he continued school in Brașov, moved from Austria-Hungary to the Kingdom of Romania, in Iași, came back to Brașov to start his college, but then returned to Iași and received his bachelor's degree from the Central College in Iași. He studied at the Faculty of Philology and Philosophy of the University of Bucharest, graduating in 1904 and getting a Diploma in Geography and History in 1910.
Professional career Alexandru Lapedatu sustained himself financially during his studies by giving private lessons or getting various jobs, like night corrector, then as columnist with the journal "România Jună (Young Romania)" (1899) and as a teacher for the Romanian language at the French College and the Lolliot College (1901–1903).
He started publishing national history studies already as a student, winning prizes set by University Foundation "Carol I" for his work on the Romanian princes Radu cel Frumos and Vlad-Vodă Călugărul, as well as being the university laureate and winner of the important "Hillel" price for his work "Istoria breslelor la români" ("The History of the Romanian Guilds").
Upon his graduation in 1903, Alexandru Lapedatu was offered an entry position as a clerk at the Library of the Romanian Academy, section for manuscripts, where he worked between 1903 and 1908; at the same time, he became a substitute professor at the Saint Sava National College in Bucharest.
He was appointed Secretary of the Historic Monuments Commission in 1904, becoming a member on 12 August 1919, being then nominated President of its Transylvania section (1921–1941) and elected President of the Historic Monuments Commission on 15 October 1941, performing this function until the commission has been disbanded by the communist regime in 1948.
Alexandru Lapedatu was active in a great number of commissions and associations. He was nominated secretary of the Romanian Historical Commission in 1909, and became member from 1911 to 1919, re-confirmed by royal decree in 1924.
He was the secretary of the Committee of the "Steaua" Association established by Spiru Haret, editing its last 27 monographs, from No. 20 to No. 47, mostly with historical content. He was elected in the Society "Arta Românească" in 1909, was an active member of the Romanian Royal Geographical Society (1915), was elected honorific member of the Romanian Numismatic Society (1920), held the Presidency of the Commission for Museum Reform in Transylvania (1921), was appointed by the Ministry of Public Education as President of the Commission for the Organization of the State Archives in Transylvania, was nominated in the Commission for Introducing National Toponyms in Transylvania, Banat and Partium, in the Commission for the Verification of the Valuable Assets and Public Goods of the Previous Hungarian Monarchy and from the other territories united with the Romanian State (1922). On 9 November 1922 he was proclaimed honorific member of the Religious Historical-Archaeological Society in Chișinău and he was a permanent delegate in the Committee of the Transylvanian Museum Society () (1925).
In 1919, when the first Romanian University was established in Cluj by the Directory Council of Transylvania, Banat and Romanian Counties in Hungary (Romanian: Consiliul Dirigent al Transilvaniei, Banatului și ținuturilor românești din Ungaria), he was nominated professor for ancient history of Romanians on 23 August 1919, being confirmed by the King on 28 January 1920; he was a member of the faculty until 1940. He was elected dean (1921–1922) and vice-dean (1922–1923) of the Philology and Philosophy Faculty and was the co-founder, together with his colleague Ioan Lupaș, of the Institute of National History from Cluj, today the Institute of History "Gheorghe Barițiu" of the Romanian Academy, becoming in 1920–1938 its co-director, respectively in 1943–1945 its honorary director.
Alexandru Lapedatu was the general director of the State Archives of Romania (30 March 1923 – 24 March 1924).
In parallel with his academic activities, Alexandru Lapedatu gave history conferences in Folk High Schools: in the Summer School in Vălenii de Munte, initiated in 1914 by Nicolae Iorga; in the University Extension in Cluj, 1925, where he was elected Honorary President; and in Free University or Folk University Association under director Sabina Cantacuzino.
In 1910 Alexandru Lapedatu was elected correspondent member, then in 1918 active member of the History Section of the Romanian Academy. He was elected vice-president (1934–1935, 1938–1939), then President of the Romanian Academy (3 June 1935 – 31 May 1938), and at the end of his mandate was elected its Secretary General (30 May 1939 – 12 August 1948). Alexandru Lapedatu has been among the 113 members purged from the Romanian Academy (Decree Nr. 76 from 8 June 1948 of the communist regime). The General Assembly of the Romanian Academy from 3 June 1990 reinstated his full membership.
The list of the scientific publications by Alexandru Lapedatu contains 424 titles.
Political activity Descending from a family keeping "strong the awareness of the rights of the unbending man", remaining "tenacious in its aspirations", Alexandru Lapedatu participated already in his school years, as many of his generation, in Romanian protests and demonstrations like the ones in Iași, in solidarity with the authors of the Memorandum. During his University studies in Bucharest, he was an active member of the .
At the beginning of the World War I, in Bucharest, he was nominated secretary of the Support Committee for the Refugees from Transylvania, Banat and Bukovina (1914–1916). In January 1918 he co-founded in Odessa the National Committee of the Romanian Refugees from Austria-Hungary that elected him as president, moved to Iași and became a political platform bringing substantive contributions in preparing Romania for the peace negotiations.
In 1920, Alexandru Lapedatu was nominated as member of the Coronation Commission to organize the festivities consecrating Ferdinand I as the King of all Romanians, formally closing the political process of the Union of Transylvania with Romania. In 1927, upon King Ferdinand I's death, he was a member in the Senate delegation establishing the Regency and having it take the oath in front of the two Chambers of the Parliament.
He joined the National Liberal Party in 1920, when he was elected a member of the Central Committee and of the Permanent Delegation, becoming the undeniable leader of the liberals in Transylvania.
At the foundation of the new University of Cluj, Alexandru Lapedatu was elected as the first professor to represent it in the Romanian Senate from 1919 to 1920.
His first elected office as a member of the National Liberal Party was in 1922 as a member of the Assembly of Deputies from Ceica (Bihor). After this, he has been elected either in the Assembly of Deputies or in the Senate in all terms until 1940; he became Senator for life in 1936 and was elected President of the Romanian Senate (16 November 1936 – 20 March 1937). He lost his seat in the Senat when the Parliament has been dismantled by the military dictatorship, but after the war he was elected for the last time in the Chamber of Deputies in 1946–1947.
Alexandru Lapedatu was Arts and Cults Minister in the six Governments and State Minister in four Governments; from 9 June 1934, while State Minister in the Tătărescu (1) Government, he was also in charge of the Cults and Arts Department and the Minority Under-Secretariat; in addition to his mandate, he also was as ad-interim Minister of Labour, Cooperation and Social Assurance in the Barbu Știrbei Government (4-6 June 1927). As State Minister for Transylvania in the Ion G. Duca Government, he co-signed the Journal of the Council of Ministers from 9 December 1927 that outlawed the fascist Iron Guard; as revenge, members of the Iron Guard assassinated Ion G. Duca on 30 December 1933. His functions are listed in detail in the following table. GovernmentParliamentFromToPrime ministerFunctionFromToChamberCircum-scription1.12.191912.3.1920Vaida-Voievod (1) (Federation) 19191920SenatorUni. Cluj19.1.192229.3.1926I. I. C. Brătianu (6)30.10.1923: Cults and Arts Minister27.2.192227.3.1926DeputyBihor30.4.19264.6.1927Averescu (3) 25.6.19266.6.1927SenatorUni. Cluj4.6.192720.6.1927StirbeyCults and Arts Minister21.6.192724.11.1927I. I. C. Brătianu (7)Cults and Arts Minister21.6.19279.11.1928Vintilă Brătianu22.6.1923: Cults and Arts Minister17.7.192710.11.1928SenatorBrașov10.11.19286.6.1930Maniu (1) 22.12.192830.4.1931Senator 7.6.193012.6.1930Mironescu (1) 13.6.19309.10.1930Maniu (2) 10.10.193017.4.1931Mironescu (2) 18.4.19315.6.1932Iorga 15.6.193110.6.1932DeputyBrasov6.6.193210.8.1932Vaida Voievod (2) 30.7.193218.11.1933SenatorUni. Cluj11.8.193219.10.1932Vaida Voievod (3) 20.10.193213.1.1933Maniu (3) 14.1.193313.11.1933Vaida Voievod (4) 14.11.193329.12.1933DucaState Minister for Transylvania 30.12.19333.1.1934AngelescuState Minister 5.1.19341.10.1934Tătărăscu (1)State Minister 9.6.1934: also Cults and Arts and Minorities1.2.193419.12.1937 Since March 1936
16.11.1936-
20.3.1937Senator Senator for life
.
President of the SenateCluj2.10.193428.8.1936Tătărăscu (2)Cults and Arts Minister29.8.193614.11.1937Tătărăscu (3)State Minister6.3.194530.11.1946Petru Groza (1)End of the Senator for life mandate as the Senate is abolished1.12.194631.12.1947Petru Groza (2)1.12.1946November 1947 (the National Liberal Party is interdicted)Deputy in the unicameral legislatures Alexandru Lapedatu joined the National Renaissance Front established by King Carol II of Romania (Royal Decree Nr. 4321 from 15 December 1938) as the only political organization legally allowed in the country; Carol II transformed the Front into the Party of the Nation (Royal Decree Nr. 2056 from 22 June 1940) that was disbanded by the prime minister Ion Antonescu (Decree of 9 September 1940) three days after Carol's abdication.