Mihai Eminescu was a poet, prose writer and journalist who, due to the great beauty and originality of his literary work, received the unofficial title of "national poet". He is Romania's greatest cultural personality and his birthday, January 15, is celebrated as the Romanian Culture Day. Eminescu is considered a genius by most people, but there is also a myth built around him, as historian Lucian Boia wrote in his book about the poet. Unfortunately, there was also Eminescu the patient, not just Eminescu the brilliant poet. In his short life, of only 39 years, the poet struggled with mental illness and was the patient of mental institutions.
Eminescu lived between 1850 and 1889. He was born in Botoșani, as the seventh of eleven children. He made his literary debut at the age of 16, while in high school. He became a law and philosophy student in Vienna and Berlin but did not finish his studies. Returning to the country in 1874, at the age of 24, he set