Presentation of the restoration site

PRESS RELEASE
Presentation of the restoration site of „The Unitarian Parish House of Roşia Montană”

Friday, October 15th, The Association “Architecture. Restoration. Archaeology” (ARA) has called in Roşia Montană a public presentation on the benefit brought to a community by the respect for the spirit of place, essential part of the historic environment. The presentation of the restoration works at the Unitarian Parish House, started by the members of ARA in 2009, provided the opportunity to explain how the authenticity of the precious building stock of Roşia Montană can be preserved and transmitted to future generations. It was insisted upon the fundamental role of employing those restoration methods which respect the local traditional materials and practice.
The architecture of the place belongs to the irreplaceable heritage of the cultural landscape of Roşia Montană. The significance of this building stock for Romania’s historic environment is unique. Churches, public edifices, industrial buildings, houses and household annexes, all bear the distinctive traits of cultured Transylvanian architecture filtered in the crucible of the spectacular vernacular fund of alpine architecture of the Apuseni Mountains. This heritage has been severely amputated: more than 150 houses have disappeared as a result of recent demolition works, while the historic substance of several monuments is threatened by false restoration ideas which “destroy while claiming to build”. ARA attempts to warn those responsible of the risk of annihilation of the still viable historic building stock of Roşia Montană, which is an irreplaceable part of the cultural heritage of the country and at the same time a truly consistent and sound resource for community development on unlimited term, for sustainable development. This heritage must be revitalized, refurbished, reintegrated to a community which should not disappear. In one word, it must be SAVED.
In this spirit, in August 2007 ARA initiated a programme of rescue by documentation, research, conservation and restoration of historic buildings of Roşia Montană. Until now this programme counts two summer schools, twenty documented buildings, a first published volume of architecture surveys and emergency interventions at two parish houses. The restoration works at the Unitarian Parish House, which made the subject of the presentation of October 15th, started in the summer of 2009. Up until now the consolidation and structural restoration works are completed, and the restoration of exterior architectural surfaces, too. The example of the Unitarian Parish House provided the opportunity to illustrate the architectural features of the historic buildings of Roşia Montană, together with their specific deterioration patterns and the necessary actions to their remedy. Moreover, the restoration project seeks to bring the edifice back in use, to unveil and express its historic and aesthetic values and to transmit it in full authenticity to future generations.

The presentation illustrated the steps necessary to be taken in restoration, from documentation and research, to project and then to execution. It was insisted upon the iterative nature of the restoration process, which entails the pursue of direct investigations on the building fabric all along the execution of works, when new traces and information may emerge, helping explain the stages of transformation of the building over time. This type of information requires the reassessment of decisions taken in the design stage and their adjustment to the new context. Such specificities of the restoration project were illustrated on the Unitarian Parish House by the emergence during structural restoration works of imprints of former transverse arches, which used to divide the ground floor street shop in three bays.
The economic and social potential of the built heritage and of the actions taken to protect and enhance it were emphasised during the presentation, with a particular stress on the importance of employing local resources and work force. Following this principle, the project of ARA – designed and put into practice by specialists and craftsmen of the association (architects Virgil Apostol and Ştefan Bâlici, craftsman Mihai Bâlici) – employed craftsmen from the town and its neighbourhood, which still practice traditional crafts (woodworking, carpentry, smithing, stone masonry)

The public presentation of October 15th of the restoration of the Unitarian Parish House, along with the conference of Câmpina of October 10th, belongs to the series of actions initiated by ARA this autumn, targeted at saving the architectural heritage and at illustrating its importance as valuable resource for a genuine sustainable development of the town and the surrounding area, at informing the civil society about the economic and social potential of the cultural heritage of Roşia Montană.

Dr. Monica Mărgineanu Cârstoiu,
President, The Association ARA