This is a bronze bust of Mircea Stanescu Vasiliu (1841-1888) in Arad, Romania. The bust was placed amonst other statues of notable figures of Arad in 1938. The representation and commemorative piece was cast by artist John Moga. Mircea Stanescu Vasiliu, born in Arad (February 23rd 1841) was a prominent leader of the national movement of Romanians in the city and served for the majority of his life as a lawyer, publicist, writer, politician and collector of folklore.

He graduated from secondary school in Arad in 1851 before leading on to study at a local Hungarian school. From 1859 he continued his studies into law at two renowned universities in Vienna and Pest. He studied theology at The Othodox Seminary in Arad. In 1866 he gained a diploma and became a lawyer, immediately making a law firm in the city.

Between 1861 and 1879 Vasiliu wrote multiple satirical publications, such as Tutti Frutti (1861), Ghosts (1862), The Humorist (1863), Village Gura (1867). He shortly after became a founder of the satirical press in Transylvania. In 1873 he wrote a manual on Romanian Grammar. In the duration of his political career he was voted twice as a member of the Hungarian institution, the Chişineu consitiency (1869 and 1872). Mircea Stanescu Vasiliu was a prominent member in the history of the Romanian National Party. He died in Arad on December 30th, 1888.

In 1938, politiician Ioan Suciu repeatedly tried to obtain a municipal approval for placing a bust of Vasiliu to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death. For unknown reasons Arad authorities voted against the decision; this being so, Suciu personally endorsed the bust by donating 5,000 Lei (around £800).

This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.