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ARA Summer School, September 2011: Roșia Montană: local traditional resources for the protection of architectural heritage

The fifth ARA Summer School once again took place in the exceptionally important historic site of Roșia Montană, bringing together students and graduates from the faculties of architecture of Cluj-Napoca, Iași, Timișoara and Bucharest, restoration specialists from the Shropshire County Heritage Service, UK, young craftsmen in training from Roșia Montană and the surrounding area, spectators from the local community and visitors, volunteer participants and guest lecturers for two weeks from September 1 to 15. More than 100 people contributed to the aims of the School and benefited from the activities.

The School program was, as every year, intensive and consisted of guided practical activities, lectures, case study presentations and discussions. All School activities were announced and open to the public.

The assisted and guided practical work is part of the campaign of rescue through documentation and direct restoration interventions of the built heritage of Roșia Montană, carried out by the ARA Association over the last five years. The documentation of the architectural heritage consisted of surveys, photographic records and observation and diagnosis sheets, and the results of the campaign will be included in the second volume of the series "Roșia Montană. Architectural Documents", which will be published by ARA Publishing House in early 2012, and will be used to prepare future restoration interventions. The participants had the opportunity to watch demonstrative 3D laser scanning recordings, realized with state-of-the-art technology by specialists from EKG Baukultur, Vienna. The qualities and potential of this new technology at the service of cultural heritage were tested on a variety of subjects, ranging from architectural objects - the Roman-Catholic and Orthodox churches in the village of Corna - to the urban nucleus - the island consisting of the Unitarian church surrounded by a cemetery, the parish house, the cantorial house and the bell-ringer's house - and the man-made landscape - the Văidoaia massif, the site of spectacular historical mining operations excavated shallowly into the mountain slopes.

The practical restoration work focused on four buildings belonging to the valuable vernacular architectural heritage of Roșiei Montane, documented in previous editions of the summer school: the Unitarian church, the Unitarian parish house and two traditional dwellings in the central area of the mining fair. More numerous and more diversified than in previous editions of the school, the papers covered chapters such as historic architectural surfaces, dry stone masonry, carpentry and traditional joinery. The theme of historic architectural surfaces, the sensitive interface between the monument and the physical environment - a theme so important and yet so rarely dealt with in Romanian practice - was directly addressed through the restoration work on the facades or interior facing of the Unitarian church and the two historic houses (house no. 331, Petri family, and house no. 399, Ciura family). These works consisted in cleaning the recent harmful cement plaster, repointing the masonry (thorough cleaning of the mortar in the joints and its replacement with well-pressed lime-sand mortar), cleaning and consolidating the historic plaster surfaces and filling the gaps with traditional lime and sand plaster, and restoring the architectural moldings by pulling with a template made from the impressions discovered after the cement plaster was removed. Another chapter of great importance and relevance for the preservation of the historical built landscape of Rosia Montana, which was tackled through the practical work carried out during the summer school, was that of dry stone masonry (without binder), ubiquitous both in the locality and outside it. These walls, known as 'mauri' in local terminology (from the German Mauer = wall), criss-cross the landscape in the form of earthworks and boundary walls, but are also used in some outbuildings. The parish house and the Unitarian church are enclosed by such walls, which have been subject to maintenance and minor repair work, but also to reconstruction due to disintegration over time.

All the practical work was carried out under the guidance of ARA Association specialists and the team of specialists from the UK, with the participation of a group of trainee craftsmen from the local community.

The practical objectives - activating and testing local resources and stimulating the protection of architectural heritage through direct, didactic and demonstrative works - were achieved by realizing a larger and varied number of interventions, made possible thanks to the good involvement of all participants - joined by volunteer supporters - throughout the duration of the school. The works carried out are important both for their demonstrative value, both in terms of their demonstrative value regarding the viability and appropriateness of using local traditional materials, practices and resources to protect the architectural heritage, and for the direct contribution they make to the conservation of the threatened heritage of Roșia Montană.

Lectures, presentations and discussions, hosted by the Unitarian church and supported by ARA guests, restorer Colin Richards and Shropshire Council specialists, architects Mathias Ganspöck and Jan Kanngießer (EKG Baukultur, Vienna), landscape architect Nicolas Triboi (Atelier "Foaie Verde", Câmpulung), architect Claudiu Silvestru (Technical University of Vienna), archaeologist Daniel Spânu (Institute of Archaeology "Vasile Pârvan" of the Romanian Academy, Bucharest), mural painting restorer Cristina Serendan (National University of Arts, Bucharest), were inaugurated by Father Árpád Pálfi, Unitarian parish priest of Roșia Montană, the welcoming host of the ARA summer schools. Held every evening, these lectures and discussions focused on contemporary issues of the site's cultural heritage, looking at it in its artistic and technical, social and economic, landscape and natural values. Current methods and technologies employed in the service of heritage were analyzed in relation to traditional practices and techniques, all seen in a comprehensive perspective, extended from architectural detail to landscape.

The discussions were complemented by tours and study visits, dedicated to the landscape as well as to practices related to traditional architecture.

The Summer School enjoyed the exceptional presence of Mrs. Maria Ploae, who gave a poetry recital, and of Mr. Nicolae Margineanu, director of the film "Flăcări pe Comori", made in Roșia Montană in 1987, who shared with the participants his memories and impressions from the making of the film, as well as his encouragement and opinions on the current serious situation in Roșia Montană, which he captured in a report available on the ARA Association's YouTube channel, http://www.youtube.com/user/ArhRestArheo.