The Romanian Academy ( ) is a cultural forum founded in Bucharest, Romania, in 1866. It covers the scientific, artistic and literary domains. The academy has 181 active members who are elected for life.
According to its bylaws, the academy's main goals are the cultivation of Romanian language and Romanian literature, the study of the national history of Romania and research into major scientific domains. Some of the academy's fundamental projects are the Romanian language dictionary (Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române), the dictionary of Romanian literature, and the treatise on the history of the Romanian people.
History
On the initiative of C. A. Rosetti, the Academy was founded on April 1, 1866, as Societatea Literară Română. The founding members were illustrious members of the Romanian society of the age.
The name changed to Societatea Academică Romînă in 1867, and finally to Academia Română in 1879, during the reign of Carol I.
The founding members of the Academy:
{|class="wikitable sortable"
!Number!!class="unsortable"|Name!!Born!!Province!!Age at founding!!Died!!Member for!!class="unsortable"|Notes
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|1||Vasile Alecsandri||21 July 1821||Moldavia||||22 August 1890||||
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|2||Vincențiu Babeș||21 January 1821||Banat||||22 January 1907||||
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|3||George Barițiu||4 June 1812||Transylvania||||2 May 1893||||
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|4||Ioan D. Caragiani||11 February 1841||Macedonia||||13 January 1921||||Aromanian
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|5||Timotei Cipariu||21 February 1805||Transylvania||||3 September 1887||||
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|6||Dimitrie Cozacovici||1790||Macedonia||||31 August 1868||||Unknown date of birth <br>Aromanian
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|7||Ambrosiu Dimitrovici||20 July 1838||Bucovina||||3 July 1866||||
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|8||Ștefan Gonata||1 February 1838||Basarabia||||18 September 1896||||
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|9||Alexandru Hâjdeu||30 November 1811||Basarabia|||| 9 November 1872||||
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|10||Ion Heliade Rădulescu||6 January 1802||Țara Românească||||27 April 1872||||First President of the Academy
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|11||Iosif Hodoș||20 October 1829||Transylvania||||28 November 1880||||
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|12||Alexandru Hurmuzaki||16 August 1823||Bucovina||||8 March 1871||||
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|13||Nicolae Ionescu||1820||Moldavia|| The Academy also operates its own publishing house. According to Mihăescu, it is a supporter of pro-Russian propaganda and extremism.