Andrei Gabriel Pleșu (; born 23 August 1948) is a Romanian philosopher, essayist, journalist, literary and art critic. He has been intermittently involved in politics, having been appointed Minister of Culture (1989–91), Minister of Foreign Affairs (1997–99) and presidential counsellor for external affairs (2004–05). Biography Born in Bucharest, the son of Radu Pleșu, a surgeon and Zoe Pleșu (born Rădulescu), he spent much of his early youth in the countryside. He started school in Sinaia, but attended the village school in Pârscov, in the Nehoiu Valley from 1955 to 1957, and often returned to the mountains during school holidays. Pleșu attended the Spiru Haret Lyceum in Bucharest majoring in humanities, where he graduated at the top of his class. Pleșu studied art history at the Bucharest National University of Arts and graduated with his bachelor's degree in 1971. That year he accepted a post as a researcher at the Institute of Art History of the Romanian Academy. In 1972 he married Catrinel Maria Petrulian. Whilst a student he had become a member of the Communist Party, from which he was expelled in May 1982 due to his involvement in the so-called "Transcendental Meditation Affair". For 1975–1977 he received the first of his Alexander von Humboldt Foundation graduate scholarships, to study in Bonn and Heidelberg. From 1978 through 1982, along with Gabriel Liiceanu, he attended Constantin Noica's informal and semi-clandestine lectures in Păltiniș. In 1980 he became a faculty lecturer in the Art department at the University of Bucharest. However, in 1982 he was barred from further university teaching for "political reasons", and took a job as a consultant for the Artists Union. He received his second Alexander von Humboldt Foundation scholarship for 1983–84, and upon his return again worked at the Institute of Art History. In April 1989, Pleșu lost his job at the Institute of Art History due to his open support of Mircea Dinescu, objected to by the communist regime. This resulted in his "exile" to Tescani, a village in Berești-Tazlău commune, Bacău County, and he was forbidden from publishing. After the Romanian Revolution of 1989 he was one of the founders of the "New Europe College" an institute of advanced studies, and of the cultural magazine Dilema (now Dilema Veche). He worked as a professor at the Academy of Fine Arts in Bucharest and is now a professor at the University of Bucharest, where he teaches art