ABSTRACT
The personality of Prof. Dr. Constantin Arseni (1912-1994) is without any doubt a key point in any discussion regarding the history of the Romanian School of Neurosurgery. Now at two decades since the regretted passing-away of Prof. Arseni the authors present several pieces of data regarding the early beginnings of neurosurgery in Romania and how this discipline has evolved over time in our country. Driven by an incredible tenacity Professor Constantin Arseni managed not only to create the first completely independent clinic of neurosurgery in Romania, but also to keep it continuously updated with the latest bibliographic and technological resources available at the time. Professor Arseni's masterpiece, the largest neurosurgical hospital in Europe (at the time of its construction)was supposed to be a completely autonomous institute dedicated to surgery on the human central nervous system. As the Iron Curtain fell and Europe was marked by continuous reforms, the idea of an institute dedicated to the brain was abandoned by the authorities and a multidisciplinary hospital dedicated to neurosurgical emergencies and trauma was born.
