25 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF ROMANIAN HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES
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Roşia Montană – Cultural Landscape, Heritage, Environment and Mining
Pro Patrimonio Foundation has been actively involved in efforts to recognize the unique universal value of the historic site of Roşia Montană (Alba County). Among other actions, it supported the financing of the archeology report written in 2010 by British expert archaeologists from Oxford and Leicester universities.
Pro Patrimonio Foundation consistently supported the inclusion of Roşia Montană on the UNESCO heritage list and in 2013 suggested its inclusion in Europe Nostra’s 7 most endangered cultural heritage sites in Europe program.
On 4 January 2017 The Ministry of Culture sent the Roşia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape to UNESCO. Peisajul Cultural Minier Roșia Montană. Submitting the file for the World Heritage list was made with the fully responsible action of Minister of Culture Corina Şuteu, after informing and consulting with Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos and with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The protection of our national heritage is one of the main responsibilities of the Ministry of Culture and falls within its fundamental prerogatives. Roşia Montană’s submission to UNESCO ends a process started in 2011 (when the National Commission of Historic Monuments officially recommended the Ministry of Culture to include Roşia Montană on the UNESCO heritage list) and continued during Dacian Cioloş’s government mandate, adding in February 2016 Roşia Montană to Romania’s Indicative List for UNESCO. ”
(extract, Ministry of Culture, January 4, 2017, https://rosiamontana.world/
Updated news about the ongoing process to include the Roşia Montană Mining Cultural Landscape in the UNESCO World Heritage List, its stages and evolution can be found at https://rosiamontana.world/, , a website implemented by the Romanian National Heritage Institute.
Pro Patrimonio Foundation gives some brief info on this subject (1999-2013):
A private company (Rosia Montana Gold Corporation, abbreviated to RMGC) has conceded the right of exploitation from the Romanian state and proposes an open-pit mining project. The project was proposed in 1999, and has not yet been able to obtain the necessary legal clearing and approvals to start work. Why? Because the project does not comply with the Romanian legislation, because it represents a great threat to the environment and because much of the exploitation would take place on private property plots. The history of this project and the notices canceled in Court http://rosiamontana.org/node/291
The silence of the press well as the acceptance of the project by politicians were bought by the private company. http://stirile.rol.ro/rosia-montana-cati-bani-a-primit-presa-de-la-rmgc-in-ultimii-ani-889925.html
what televisions are advertising the mining project
Here are some comments and remarks about press reports
http://uzp.org.ro/proiectul-rosia-montana-submineaza-credibilitatea-presei/
Foreign press reports http://totb.ro/protestele-pentru-rosia-in-presa-straina/
What has civil society been doing these past years?
Alburnus Maior is the association of locals and owners from Roşia Montană established in September 2002 to organize planned steps to stop the mining project proposed by RMGC. Through its ongoing work, Alburnus Maior coordinates what is today the largest social and environmental campaign in Romania. In support of this, many organizations, institutions, artists, journalists, as well as members of civil society of all ages and from social status in Romania and abroad have joined together.
http://rosiamontana.org/
In addition to campaigns for public information, monitoring of authorities, protests and legal actions, the Fân Fest Festivals are being promoted annually to promote the values of the area http://www.fanfest.ro/
What began as a protest festival in 2004, FânFest has become a distinct cultural space in support of environmental and social rights and the sustainable development of Roşia Montană – thus becoming the emblem of social and environmental movements in Romania over the last decade.
Adopt a Roşia Montană House is a program to rescue the cultural heritage and the traditional community in Roşia Montană and the neighboring villages. The program is initiated by Alburnus Maior, the local association dedicated to protecting the rights of Roşia Montană community members in partnership with ARA – Architecture. Restoration. Archeology, an active association in the field of research, conservation and value of cultural heritage for the benefit of communities and society.
http://www.adoptaocasa.ro/
http://www.e-zeppelin.ro/Ctrl-S-Rosia-Montana-Arhitectura-prin-voluntariat
In 2013, Roşia Montana was included in Europe Nostra’s 7 Most Endangered program. The file that was the basis of the joint proposal of the signing organizations, assumed by Europa Nostra and the partner banks by including them on the 7 monuments list includes a structured action plan in 10 different directions to which concrete projects correspond. The plan aims to contribute effectively to preserving the cultural heritage of the site through research and documentation, through direct conservation and correct value assessment. The planned actions, together with the involvement of the local community, will generate a huge impact both on the professional fields and on the public at local, national and international level. The plan will help maintain and increase community revenue while protecting biodiversity and the value of internationally recognized habitats that have sustained the traditional community.
http://www.simpara.ro/rosia-montana-o-preocupare-europeana-553.html
http://www.europanostra.org/7-most-endangered/
What began street protests on September 1, 2013
POn 27 August 2013 the government approved the draft law related to measures regarding to the gold-silver mining exploitation in the Roşia Montană perimeter and the stimulation and facilitation of development of mining activities in Romania.
See the draft Here
At least 20 points inlaw repeating the phrase “by exception / derogation from legal directives” make this project unconstitutional and particularly dangerous
The map of protests started on 1 September 2013
See here the claims of the protesters: LINK
Școala-atelier de meșteșuguri pe șantierul de la Țibănești
Since 2006 a cultural program called “Batem fierul la conac !” (“Hitting the iron at the manor”) was initiated at the Petre P. Carp Manor in Ţibăneşti, Iaşi County. The program includes a series of workshops for traditional crafts and experimental techniques and is coordinated by Asociația Maria in partnership with Pro Patrimonio Foundation. All activities grouped around the P.P. Carp Manor make up a school for crafts designed primarily for the villagers from Ţibăneşti, but also for all aware of the value of cultural heritage and the need to pass on it to their children. The historical complex of national importance Petre P. Carp from Ţibăneşti consists of a manor, a church, a mausoleum and the auxiliary building. The dendrological park was not returned and remains in the administration of local authorities. More about the complex and program here:
The program addressed the students from the faculties of architecture, restoration, art, construction, archeology, photography, to local people, specialists, as well as those interested in the subject is an alternative to standard educational offers . The workshop is supported by the presence of the Mraz Fotopoetika School – lectures, projections and exhibitions, which poetically “maps” the activities and cultural landscape of Ţibăneşti.
“In the manor workshops we have learned not to seek universal prescriptions and formulas, but to consider each case independently, to see how important the context a material is used in is, the fact that it must be modeled properly while taking into account its properties, and allow our hands to imprint it and fill it with content, “says the organizer of the workshop, the Asociația Maria.
In September 2017, the association Carpenters Without Borders and a class of apprentice carpenters from Les Compagnons du Devoir and Tour de France in Rouen came to voluntarily restore the roofing of the Ţibăneşti ironwork shopthat had been under restoration for 10 years. The new roofing will allow us to create a new usable space. This will be an important aid for continuing the project in Ţibăneşti, in organizing courses and workshops dedicated to traditional crafts. The work process, starting with documenting how ash and oak log have been moved, studied and carved by craftsmen and apprentices, has been documented in an online workshop diary here:
https://tibanestiaocdtf.wixsite.com/mobilite2017
Details about the workshop and craft school at the P.P. Carp Manor from Ţibăneşti
60 Wooden Churches The Gates of Brașov projectcoordinated by architect Silvia Demeter-Lowe, wanted to save the gates in the historical center of Brașov, thus offering the owners a hand in repairing or refurbishing the gates and, at the same time, draw attention to the importance of preserving these elements of architectural heritage. The works were executed by craftsmen specialized in wood and metal conservation using traditional materials and techniques.
The project was initiated in 2009 when a citizen of Brasov requested the help of Pro Patrimonio Foundation because he wished that the hundred-year-old wooden gate of the court in which he lived could be rescued.
Works for restoration and giving value to the gate soon followed ( 16 Brâncoveanu Street, Brașov).
The next step was to identify other gates as potential candidates for restoration. They needed to meet criteria such as architectural and historical value, position within the city and, last but not least, the owners’ desire to get involved.
Details on Igloo magazine: https://www.igloo.ro/portile-brasovului -2/
Pro Patrimonio Foundation supported the 2013 advent band album FOLLOW – Lost end found. Music + architecture – because music and architecture, though different in their ways and means of expression, give voice to common values and interests. Architectural heritage trails should be protected and cherished with responsibility and consideration, and re-given to the community they are part of.
The album is accompanied by a book with documented historical monuments: Matache Hall (Bucharest), Macca House (Bucharest), Timişoara Citadel Synagogue, Mincu House in Bucharest (Romanian Architects Order), Casa cu Lei in Constanţa, Palatul Cantacuzino in Floresti (PH), Constanta Casino, Malaxa Pipe Factory in Bucharest and Suceava Water Plant.
More details here:
Mai multe aici: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBTWopXqyZk
Working holidays organized by Foundation Pro Patrimonio in 2019
These holidays are organised by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation – Romania’s National Trust. The Foundation was set up in 2000 to save, preserve and restore the architectural and cultural heritage of Romania. It provides support for the restoration and re-use of historic buildings and actively promotes the use of appropriate construction techniques and traditional craftsmanship.
1. Traditional lime plaster from Potters The German Manor, Olt
The Olari mansion, a National Heritage Monument, is situated in Olt County and is very close to the Danube. It is one of the few remaining examples of a preserved Neo-Romanian style property in the south of the country. The mansion’s history starts around 1400 and, having been through numerous changes of ownership, it was completely restructured by Ion Mincu, one of Romania’s most celebrated architects. Further changes were made early last century, including the addition of belvedere towers and balconies, in a style heavily influenced by the Art Nouveau movement.
The working holiday will focus on using traditional techniques for plaster on interior and exterior walls.
Meeting point: We can advise on local transport links to Olari.
Accommodation: You can choose from camping on site (2 tents provided by the Foundation) or 2 rooms (each with 3 beds) in the mansion. Bedding is provided, please bring towels.
Dates: 15/07/2019 – 21/07/2019
Price: 160 € (£145*) for camping or 200 € (£181*) for accommodation in the mansion. (*An approximate GBP £ price based on an exchange rate of 1.1022 on 24 Oct 2018.)
2. Learn Blacksmithing & Traditional Crafts at the Manor, Moldavia
Aceasta este o oportunitate de a încerca şi învăţa meșteșugurile tradiționale în zona în care Petre Carp a construit un conac la sfârșitul secolului al XVII-lea. Mai multe clădiri anexe au fostridicate de-a lungul anilor, inclusiv un mausoleu neo-gotic de familie proiectat de Gustave Eiffel. Conacul, clădirile înconjurătoare și parcurile istorice formează un ansamblu arhitectural unic în regiunea deluroasă a Moldove din estul României. În prezent, conacul este un centru cultural în continuă dezvoltare, iar în fiecare vară, Asociația Maria, în parteneriat cu Pro Patrimonio, organizează ateliere care acoperă diverse meșteșuguri tradiționale, inclusiv fierărie, sculptură în lemn, tehnici de restaurare, ceramică, tâmplărie, conservare frescă și tencuieli. Vacanţa de lucru de lucru va fi centrată în jurul acestor ateliere.
Meeting point: We can advise on local transport links to Tibanesti.
Accommodation: Accommodation and meals are provided in several historic buildings in the grounds.
Dates: 28/07/2019 – 11/08/2019
Price: 260 € (£236*) This price includes planned visits to some local attractions. There is the opportunity to organise additional visits for an extra charge. (*An approximate GBP £ price based on an exchange rate of 1.1022 on 24 Oct 2018.)
3. Permaculture in the Historical Park at Izvoru, Southern Central Romania
Această vacanţă oferă șansa de a descoperi istoria și frumusețea Conacului și Parcului Perticari-Davila din Izvoru alcătuit din 100 de hectare de-a lungul văii râului Teleorman. În ultimul an, datorită restabilirii activității agricole zona locală a revenit încet la viață. Folosind practici agricole care respectă oamenii și natura și veți fi parte a unei echipe care va contribui la crearea unei agriculturi durabile și autonome la scară mică, inspirată de principiile permaculturii. Scopul este ca acesta să devină un model pentru numeroasele situri din regiune care au fost distruse în timpul și după perioada comunistă. Organizatori sunt Asociația Domeniul Davila-Perticari și Fundația Pro Patrimonio.
Meeting point: We can advise on local transport links to Izvoru.
Accommodation: You can choose from camping on site or stay in one common sleeping room with 4 beds. Bedding is provided, please bring towels.
Dates: 08/07/2019 – 14/07/2019
Price: 120 € (£109*)
To book please email: bucharest@propatrimonio.org stating your preferred holiday and contact details. For more information about this organisation go to www.propatrimonio.org
During the workshops held in Mihăileni in August, the 20 children from the project created through their research and works a series of materials that we gathered as was natural in an exhibition. It was opened in the courtyard of George Enescu’s House. The parents and the local community in general received it with great interest and even pride. These children’s perspectives – ages ranging from 7 to 12- on their village, local resources and possibilities is a unique approach from which we can all find inspiration and hope, so we set out to organize this exhibition online as well.
The topics they had to cover during the days of the workshops or camp – as the children from the local community beautifully called it – were very varied.
The main project team was composed of Andreea Machidon and Mihai Petrescu
Teammates: Luiza Simion, Ana Maria Apostoiu and Irinia Novac;
Specialized trainers: Andreea Tincea – sound and Smaranda Ilie – animation
The ANIMEST team
The management of the Mihăileni school and local coordinator Adrian Hariga
“EventFullDays at the Enescu House – cultural-musical explorations and exercises” is a cultural project realized by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation in partnership with the UiPath Foundation and co-financed by AFCN.
Between August 14 and 22, 2020, the Enescu House opened its doors to the community!
We celebrated the end of the restoration site with a wide range of workshops and activities dedicated to children from Mihăileni and a piano concert by pianist Raluca Ştirbăţ on August 19, George Enescu’s birthday.
Around 20 children from Mihăileni benefited from an intense eight-day program dedicated to the exploration and creative transformation of local resources. The experiments were aimed at children’s befriending the idea of built heritage having as landmark and object of study the Enescu House itself. The whole project was enriched with meals with the team, sports and board games and evenings with animated films dedicated to the whole community.
At the first inquiry into the community, the children received each an Explorer’s Notebook that accompanied them in the mapping exercise of the elements that define the surroundings of the Enescu House – materials, craftsmen, objects, built spaces, natural spaces, stories, customs, recipes or plants. The work on the Notebooks was the basis for the first two workshops for the construction of a series of interactive local maps with elements of objective presentation, proposals and visions adapted to the requirements of the inhabitants and personal hiding places in the form of stories.
On the day dedicated to sound, through games and exercises the children observed the vibration of various elements in their immediate vicinity, tested voices and instruments, built handcrafted musical instruments and tuned their energies in an impromptu orchestra.
Within the workshop dedicated to the architecture specialist, the children built a house-lighting fixture with 5 layers of walk-in and creative understanding of the Enescu House: golden plan and proportions, component materials, specialized terms and graphic representations, the main section of the house and the interior in its past and future of phase.
In the role of landscapers, the children proposed scenarios for arranging the courtyard of the Enescu House and created structures from woven twigs for future climbing plants.
The team researched the history of the house, proposing together with a specialist an animation with its story and some moments George Enescu spent in Mihăileni.
The celebration of the official opening of the Enescu House brought together the children at the concert in the form of hosts and hopeful helpers in organizing the event.
The works and research gathered, the sports games practiced in all the afternoons in the backyard and the friendships made during this time were used as a pretext for a big final exhibition and a series of competitions with awards. The festive day created an opportunity to gather a large audience, curious about the children’s work and gathered the teams in sports competitions, fun games, ingenious rehearsals and dancing choreography. The badminton competition took place with a generous audience of parents, relatives, friends and neighbours, but also with tempting prizes. The children-parents culinary test gathered 15 local dishes, judged with great seriousness by all the tasters present on a musical background offered by a local children’s orchestra from Vicov.
The eight days were real educative and creative rehearsals for children, an opportunity to make friends with serious tools, such as: motosaw, drills, saws, pyrography tools or carving knives and playful challenges, local stories and reflections.
Starting with the first day, the children claimed the term workshops and turned it into a camp. No one was interested in the lunch break at home and everyone preferred to stay in the backyard for continuous game sessions or help offered to the team for various chores. The house courtyard was not large enough for the daily requests from children from all over the community to participate in the events, but the rules of distance imposed by the pandemic forced us to limit the number of participants, but also to promise that in better times we will put more workshop places available.
By the end of this year we intend to leave room for a surprise DIY kit, a future online exhibition of works and explorations from this summer, a presentation film for the project and a future digital map with the craftsmen around Enescu House.
None of this would have been possible without the basic team: Andreea Machidon and Mihai Petrescu set off with: trainers – teammates Luiza Simion, Ana Maria Apostoiu and Irinia Novac; specialized trainers Andreea Tincea – sound and Smaranda Ilie – animation; film specialist Alin Iacob; graphic specialist: Mona Petre; ANIMEST team; the school management from Mihăileni and the local coordinator Adrian Hariga.
The “camp” at the Enescu House started in 2020 and we all hope that it will be an event that will enrich the place every year.
“EventFullDays at the Enescu House – cultural-musical explorations and exercises” is a cultural project realized by the Pro Patrimonio Foundation in partnership with the UiPath Foundation and co-financed by AFCN.
The activity event calendar in the community from Mihăileni are the following:
August 14 – Map of Local Resources – transformation of research done by children through the Explorer’s Notebook into interactive thematic maps and proposals for activating Mihăileni
August 15 – Emotional Map and Imaginary Map of Mihăileni – personal perspectives and views on where they live in the form of DIY projects
August 16 – Sound Workshop – sound research and interpretation, along with group experiments and the practice of building a musical instrument
August 17 – Film Workshop – theoretical elements and the practical exercise of making a short film about local resources
August 18 – Heritage Caravan – Who is the landscape designder? – proposing a 3D plan for arranging George Enescu’s house garden and the exercise of some artistic installations made of wickerwork
August 19 – Heritage Caravan – Who is the historian? – discovering the story of George Enescu’s house, of the one who lived in it and of some musical elements from George Enescu’s work, in the form of a dynamic game with physical and cultural tests
August 20 – Heritage Caravan – Who is the architect? – discovering the constructive layers of the house by creating a model-object
August 21 – Animation Workshop – theoretical elements and the practical exercise of making an animation about the story of Enescu’s house: the construction of frames and characters, animation of frames, filming, sound and editing
August 22 – Festive Day in the Community – exhibition with children’s works, culinary contest in the community and other surprise elements addressed to the whole community.
In all nine evenings we will have an animation and film program open to the whole community – within the available places – with the support of ANIMEST and ONE WORLD ROMANIA.
Supplemental: August 19 – The Inauguration Concert of George Enescu’s house in Mihăileni performed by pianist Raluca Ştirbăţ and soprano Ileana Tonca, active supporters of saving the house, will take place in the house and will be broadcast outside to a small audience in the yard
All 15 children who will take part in the program were selected with the help of community teachers based on their interest.
EventFull Days al Casa Enescu – Cultural-Musical Explorations and Exercises is one of Pro Patrimonio Foundation’s cultural projects, co-funded by AFCN and carried out in partnership with the UiPath Foundation, which started in early July through a mapping and research of local craftsmen and will continue in August with heritage workshops for children, an inaugural concert on August 19 and other surprises that we hope we can safely put into practice.
EventFull Days al Casa Enescu – Cultural-Musical Explorations and Exercises is one of Pro Patrimonio Foundation’s cultural projects, co-funded by AFCN and carried out in partnership with the UiPath Foundation
The Project ”Enescu Festival – cultual-musical explorations and exercises” has started!
In order to better know the location of George Enescu’s House and its surroundings, we proposed to start to start the exercise of mapping craftsmen and local resources around the house between July 1-4, 2020. Two teams patrolled for four days within a radius of approximately 50-60 km around the architectural object to sketch the story around Mihăileni.
The route was based on maps of existing craftsmen online https://hartamesterilorconstructii.ro/ și https://www.hartamestesugarilor.ro/,valuable and rich information collected from ethnographic museums and tourist information centres in the area and clues provided by the locals themselves. The abundance of craftsmen in these places forced us to make a forced selection of field visits and to keep the research tracks open for other times.
We managed to visit 25 craftsmen and we got acquainted with the cultural differences and similarities of Bucovina and Moldova on foot through villages and cities or through museum research.
Even if the theme of this project is limited to research, our ideas for future collaborations have already started having met such skilled craftsmen and from such varied areas.
In the marathon experience of field research I met: blacksmiths, weavers, sculptors and carpenters, stonemasons, skinners, glassmakers and weavers. As in the research at Câmpulung Muscel in Argeş County, around Villa Golescu, we were impressed by both the joys and the hardships of each craft.
We hope the preservation and re-adaptation of all these traditions will someday be the object of a future Honest Goods collection from George Enescu’s House in Mihăileni and to incite as many people as possible to access the existing human and cultural resources nearby.
We would like to thank the craftsmen for lodging us and for their stories, as well as the volunteers, Ruxandra Sacaliș and Ana Luiza Simion without whom we would not have been able to find out so many things.
“The Enescu House Festival – cultural-musical explorations and exercises” is one of Pro Patrimonio’s cultural projects co-financed by AFCN. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
This summer the restoration of George Enescu’s House in Mihăileni is completed and we are preparing the opening of its gates to the community and curious people outside with educational activities and thematic cultural events that will be realized with the support of AFCN and the UiPath Foundation. These are meant to bring the house back to life in the context of today and to help an audience as diverse as possible be aware of the house’s cultural value and its potential to redefine itself in contemporary, through its musical-memorial and architectural value, but also through the opportunity it being set around important natural and human resources
We want to lay the foundations of a long-term educational heritage and music program. The project called “Enescu House Festival – cultural-musical explorations and exercises” uses the experience from four years of Heritage Education workshops that we conducted around other heritage objectives – Perticari-Davila Mansion, Neamțu Mansion and Golescu Villa – which we constantly take care of. Elements from the guide “Education for Heritage” (http://bit.ly/GhidEducatiePentruPatrimoniu) written at the end of last year are incorporated into this program while elements dedicated to music, specific to the place, are also introduced. The whole approach is completed by a specific research of the local resources whose primary aims are materials, crafts, sounds and stories of the area.
This year’s campaign will run for a cumulative period of about three weeks this summer between July and September. It will include: a research and a creative mapping of the cultural resources of the place, an educational caravan for heritage that will place children in a practical and playful way in the roles of heritage specialists (urban planner, architect, historian and landscaper) , film and animation workshops, a DIY surprise workshop, the challenge of creating and caring for a small garden at Casa Enescu, movie nights in the community and a festive event, along with an online exhibition of the project, addressed to a very wide public range, which gathers the accumulated research and creative experiments and sparks people’s interest in the work and life of George Enescu, in the context of celebrating this day and the international marking of the Beethoven year.
“The Enescu House Festival – cultural-musical explorations and exercises” is one of Pro Patrimonio’s cultural projects co-financed by AFCN. The project does not necessarily represent the position of the National Cultural Fund Administration. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results can be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the beneficiary of the funding.
UiPath Foundation is a partner of Pro Patrimonio Foundation in the program “The Academy of Music and Education for Children” which takes place from February 2020 at the House of George Enescu in Mihăileni.
