Ambulance for monuments

Eugen Vaida is an architect and is passionate about restoration, heritage and culture in general, with a particular activity in architectural design in rural areas, mainly in Transylvania. Its long-term goals refer to the increase of the quality of the architectural object in the countryside and, implicitly, to the increase of the quality of life of the villagers, training architects in order to respond correctly and coherently to any intervention of restoration/restoration of a historical monument.

In 2016 creates, under the aegis of the MONUMENTUM Association, the pilot project Ambulance for Monuments, a project that represents an ever-expanding network of volunteers, students and specialists, all united under a common goal, namely the rescue and enhancement of Romanian cultural heritage.

In 2020, the Ambulance for Monuments is the laureate of the European Heritage Awards, offered by the pan-European organization Europa Nostra, in the category of Education, Training and Awareness Raising.

Europa Nostra, an organization founded in 1963 in Paris, today brings together members from more than 40 countries with the sole aim of protecting Europe's cultural heritage. Widely accepted internationally as the voice of European cultural heritage, Europa Nostra rewards excellence in heritage conservation every year. The categories under which the awards are offered are: Conservation, Research, Dedicated Service and Education, Training and Awareness Raising.

The European Heritage Awards, also known as the Europa Nostra Awards, were launched in 2002 by the European Commission and Europa Nostra has been organizing them ever since, with the financial support of the European Union through the Creative Europe Programme.

Alexandra Florea: How did you decide to set up the Ambulance?

Eugen Vaida: There were several colleagues, at the beginning, who had this idea, but the name didn't come up at that time. Together with the MONUMENTUM Association, we had been carrying out safety interventions for some time, but we didn't have a van, just a car with a trailer. Then, a colleague, Cătălina Bulburea, came up with the title, after which we adjusted the project a bit and, together with 6 specialists, we decided to do it through the MONUMENTUM Association, because we had experience in southern Transylvania.

The idea was to launch the Ambulance in an area where there is a good chance to be successful, to be able to make monuments safe and that's why we chose southern Transylvania. We were also thinking about Bucharest, where there are several organizations, but there, the legal and real estate issues were more complicated in terms of intervention. That's why we preferred to start with the rural area in southern Transylvania, where communities resonated much better with heritage.

We started in 2016 and today we have several dozen monuments saved. That's how the project started. We are at the Costești Fortress now, where a superstructure was put on the two Dacian towers in the 1960s, and it collapsed. We are now coming with a new superstructure, designed by the Heritage Institute, by Ștefan Bâlici. We are creating this new superstructure to protect the two towers that were degraded by the rains that poured through the tin roofing. It's a large project, on a UNESCO site, with the participation of several archaeologists, we also have excavation follow-up, there are 3 architects from "Babes Bolyai" in Cluj, from the Transylvania Museum and from the museum in Deva.

Babeș University is providing us with accommodation and meals, the County Council and the Heritage Institute have helped us with the authorization and we have quite big sponsors supporting us, Profi Romania being the biggest of them. The society resonated quite well with the idea, we also made a call for donations for the two objectives, for materials (quite high cost, 25.000-30.000 euro), to work only on one tower, and next year we will work on the second one. There are many problems of archaeology, cleaning the stone, we also have a stone restorer who taught us how to restore and strengthen the stone, he even came with his tools, he also donated stone restoration materials.

There are a lot of people involved. But it takes time, because it's quite difficult to take down the existing structure without damaging the stones and without damaging the historical part. So that it doesn't rain inside and damage the towers, while we're putting up the new structure, we're putting up a sort of tent until we manage to change the old superstructure. There are more complicated things and a more extensive intervention, but it will turn out nicely, if we manage to complete it in 2-3 weeks. The team is great.

A.F.: What is your motto at the Monuments Ambulance?

E.V.: We don't necessarily have a motto, I can only say that we want to save, in a sustainable way, heritage in countries where it is neglected. We have been able to coalesce the energies of all the actors involved in what it should mean to save heritage in a sustainable way and to make it safe. We are talking about the authorities, the mediators, the NGO we represent, the local communities and the specialist community. We work with craftsmen and volunteers under the strict supervision of specialists and those who coordinate the work. We have rather an objective to try to extend this project to neighboring countries with similar problems of neglect of heritage, on the one hand by the authorities, on the other by the communities who are afraid of it because they find it too much bureaucracy... And then we come and we put all the paperwork and the endorsement on the table, we help them and we tell them about what heritage they have, and they somehow start to take ownership.

A.F.: What can you tell us about the execution of the works? Is it difficult to find skilled craftsmen to work on historical monuments?

E.V.: We have to define what qualified means, because there is a difference between a member of the community who has some knowledge of traditional, local building and construction techniques and the craftsman who has a thorough knowledge that he has practiced for a longer period of time. There are also differences between craftsmen and technicians in the field of restoration, which, unfortunately, we no longer have, and then we come to the restorers themselves, who are involved in the design and on-site monitoring of the work.

I believe that we not only need a person in charge of execution, but also an archaeologist, a historian, an architect, an engineer and an engineer. They all need to come to the site, to stay on site, to follow the work, to make decisions on the site, because you cannot do restoration from your office, hand in a project and come back two months later to see what has happened. So, yes, it's difficult to find craftsmen with experience. That's why we have also created, together with the OAR, that map of craftsmen that you can also find online; from there we sometimes get the craftsmen we need, but we also have an experienced team that we work with, at least on the envelope side. Although they're young, in their early 30s, they have a few dozen jobs behind them. Obviously, we supervise them too, there are certain details where we even decide together on the craftsmanship techniques and technical solutions to be applied.

A.F.: How do you deal with bureaucracy? What kind of documentation is needed to start saving a historic monument?

E.V.: Surprisingly, emergency securing is a fairly straightforward procedure, but it still needs to be simplified. Architectural interventions are quite simple to document, but the engineering side is more difficult because you need a certified specialist. It's simple stuff, a photographic documentation, a description of the works, similar to an architectural memo and some sketches, that's pretty much the basis from which we start. Of course, sometimes you also need a survey, we even do 3D surveys, sometimes you need a dendro-chronological study to find out certain data about the types of roofing or the roof structure, so that we can correlate with what is there and know what we can replace it with. Sometimes a biological study is needed to find out the degradations.

Compared to this basic documentation, which is stipulated in the Order of the Minister of Culture in 2016, we also come up with those research/studies that help us to decide the method and solutions for intervention, but they are also done on a case-by-case basis. The documentation is quite simple, sometimes we do it in two days, sometimes in 2-3 weeks, and the approval is short, because we often get the approvals and have partnerships with the directorates for culture, and the issuing bodies often understand the urgency involved in saving these monuments and issue authorizations quite quickly. This year, we have around 15 interventions and we have already obtained authorizations and permits for most of them. Also this year, a law has been passed which helps us a lot and also helps those who want to carry out light works to save monuments. The law means that you no longer need all the permits and authorizations, just an agreement from the Ministry of Culture.

We do minimal documentation, we intervene, but the owner is obliged to fill in all the necessary documentation until the works are completed or within the two years of authorization. This is difficult to do. Obviously, the owner, when he sees the monument already made safe, starts to wonder why he should spend money on other documents that don't help him anyway, they just certify what we have already done.

A.F.: How do you proceed in the case of a securing that requires archaeological studies?

E.V.: Most of the time, for safety, only the archaeological follow-up is given, i.e. the archaeologists' follow-up of the works, which is what we are doing at Costești. For restoration, yes, archaeological research is done and it is vital to find out certain things, it gives you some valuable information to work with. We do a lot of work on roofs. The English say all you need is a good hat and boots. When it comes to roofing, archaeology helps us less or would help us, say, on the foundation side. Right now we're just doing tracking, we have the support of the archaeologists.

A.F.: What are the criteria for selecting a historical monument/setting to benefit from the actions offered by the Ambulance?

E.V.: We address monuments that are in a state of collapse, pre-collapse or even with a beginning of degradation, if the degradation endangers, for example, a very beautiful and important painting. The first criterion is, from our point of view, the value of the historic monument. We are mainly targeting category A monuments, but not only, because for some category B monuments, there are other things that have been discovered and they also deserve to be listed. We are also addressing those buildings that have a very high value but have not been listed. When we consider that we need to intervene, we make a request for classification, when we find a building that has monument value.

The second criterion would be community involvement and resonance with that monument. Very often we had little churches, and they were the only places of worship that the community owned and in which they celebrated their services.

The people helped us a lot, they gave us accommodation and meals, they helped us with logistical support, they came, they helped with the work, they helped with the shingle, etc. If we secure a monument and then nothing happens, that is no longer a sustainable intervention. Thirdly, we are interested in whether the techniques we apply are important ones for volunteers, for students of Architecture, Arts, Archaeology, Art History, Art History, Geography, even Tourism.

The difference between making safe and restoration is not necessarily that big, we also work with elements of restoration and conservation, and all of these things are very interesting for our volunteers. If we have work that involves restoring a stone shell, making and pounding horjite shingles, or dry underpinning a church with stone, then we are very keen to get started.

Just now I was coming from the church of the Monastery of the Corner, where there is a stone cladding of the tower. There it rains in the tower, water drips down all the walls and there is a lot of dampness. The challenge is to learn how to restore a stone cladding, and that will be another project for next year. Also, a condition, rather than a criterion, is to have funding at least for materials from the beneficiary and to have accommodation and meals provided by the community or beneficiary. We also make concessions, we negotiate, maybe not everyone can afford it, maybe the town hall cannot cover the accommodation expenses, but if it supports the materials, we find another solution, we have sponsors and donors who support us on this side as well.

A.F.: I suppose there are also private owners.

E.V.: Yes, we don't make a difference, we work and we make safe the monuments that are in private property with love, it's just that in such cases the community resonates less, because they wonder why that owner, who is obliged to maintain his monument, doesn't do it and why should the community support this situation.

So far, we have only two private monuments that we have intervened on and 32 in public ownership.

A.F.: In case the private owners don't maintain and the monument is in a pre-collapse state again, is there any punishment for them?

E.V.: No, from the very beginning we set out to save the heritage. Our actions, compared to a restoration, are quite small in scale and it would be difficult to force the owners to sign a contract committing themselves to certain things regarding the maintenance of the building, because such a thing is not predictable, the owner doesn't know if he will have money in the future. If he had the money, he would also have done the safety part. I think the important thing is our ability to make the owner aware of everything, to make him understand what he is dealing with, to understand the importance of dendrological studies, biological studies, etc. Many people think that projects are just paperwork to get a permit... We are trying to make them understand that this is not the case, that all these things are vital to get to know the monument.

It's important to make them realize the importance of the heritage they have, to open their eyes, that's our role, that's the role of the Monuments Ambulance.

A.F.: You have saved dozens of monuments so far. What was the first monument saved?

E.V.: We started the Ambulance with a grant from HRH The Prince of Wales and the AFCN for the first 6 interventions. The first one was the gate of the Brancovan manor house in Sâmbăta de Sus, where we installed an overprotection for the gate that was starting to deteriorate.

A.F.: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales is one of the supporters of the project and a great lover of old Romanian architecture. How did he find out about this project?

E.V.: We have a mutual friend who is a supporter of the Ambulance for Monuments, namely the writer William Blacker, who has played a crucial role in safeguarding Romanian heritage. He was involved, at quite a high level, in the Mihai Eminescu Trust. I met him in 2011, he told me about what he wanted to do, I told him about my ideas, and when he heard about the Ambulance, he supported it and told the Prince of Wales that it would be a project worth supporting. His Royal Highness reacted from the first moment and supported us, without asking for much information. He trusted us, we had worked on several other projects, we had already set up a tile factory together in Apoș and he was very confident that it would be a successful project, supporting it significantly from a financial point of view. He is aware of all the interventions, we send photos.

At one point, he came especially to visit one of the interventions in Târnăveni, he interacted with the people, with the places, he likes crafts, he likes people who act, he likes young people and he wants to support these interventions as much as possible.

There are a lot of projects and he is very much in demand, but we have been able to coagulate energies that have brought us the foresight that he has. Each project is part of a big puzzle in which we are trying to save and give a new face to Romanian heritage.

The Prince of Wales is also supporting other projects in other fields, such as environment, agriculture or climate change, etc. I would also like to mention that the foundation through which he supports these projects is called The Prince's Foundation and I think it is worth mentioning because it will be active in Romania soon, and all the projects we are doing with His Royal Highness will be managed through this foundation. I will be involved with The Prince's Foundation in Romania.

A.F.: What is the logical thread of an action to safeguard a historic monument?

E.V.: A lot of people contact us on Facebook, it's the main social networking page we are active on. In general, we are contacted by priests, but also by other beneficiaries, they send us photos of the monument, we go and do a monitoring visit if we haven't done it beforehand, we establish what are the operations of securing, what it entails in terms of costs and organization, the time we allocate, then we establish a budget for materials and we ask where we could be accommodated and who would provide us with food, all with the support of the beneficiary of course.

We have also had town halls that have financed the necessary materials, but if there is no support from them, we make a public call or do fundraising, through activities such as concerts, exhibitions, etc. to raise the necessary money. Then we do the necessary documentation, we get it approved, we authorize it, we find the craftsmen and the volunteers, and shortly after that we start the action. Once the work is completed, the beneficiary has time to prepare the rest of the documentation.

A.F.: So the documentation has to be continued after the securing action.

E.V.: It is assumed that you don't have time to do it in 2-3 days, so you have the possibility to come up with a summary documentation, in which you write down the emergencies, you quickly approve and authorize them, and then you have time to come up with a complete documentation to complete the whole process. It is up to the beneficiary to go back and complete the documentation...

A.F.: You are planning to expand throughout the country. Which regions have you managed to reach so far?

E.V.: At the moment we cover about 35% of the national territory. Of course Transylvania is the most covered, but since this year we have also expanded to Muntenia. We have an ambulance in Northern Muntenia, which operates in the counties of Dâmbovița, Argeș and Prahova. Also this year, we are setting up an Ambulance in the Oltenia area and another one in the Northern Moldavia area. All these 3 new Ambulances, which are managed by 3 different associations outside the Carpathian arc, will have one intervention each. We are starting slowly with the newcomers and we prefer to consolidate the way the Ambulance works rather than expand.

A.F.: Which categories of volunteers are involved in Ambulance actions?

E.V.: They are generally young, but the balance is still about 50-50. Most of them are students, mainly architecture students.

I am also active in the field of summer schools and we have several projects started with the OHR, targeting architecture students. We even launched a call for scholarships and we had 107 candidates on 50 places to attend the summer schools. We are also known from this perspective, we had a school in Apoș, one in Topârcea, where we strengthened relations with the students, who later came to the activities of the Monuments Ambulance .

Beyond the students there are also young specialists from other fields, we have historians, we have people working in IT, in multinationals, we have politicians or people who are involved in administration, who come when they have time to learn new things and to feel this atmosphere of the Ambulance. We've also had older people, retired people, who have thought that in the second half of their lives they want to have a hand in rebuilding this country.

A.F.: How do you train volunteers?

E.V.: We have specialized workshops, for example on tiling and brick, on restoration techniques for ceramic coverings, we have this school in Topârcea, which is set up with our partners from the Active Heritage Association, where we learned a lot about mortars.

There are colleagues of ours who run another summer school, each with its own specificity. There are summer schools that work a lot with clay plasters, others aim just to do heritage research, others want to understand and use traditional techniques to shape contemporary architecture, like the Bunești School and so on.

There are other specialized schools, such as the one in Țibănești, which focuses on blacksmithing. So, in general, the summer schools focus on certain traditional techniques or a particular craft. And volunteers come from these summer schools, they come from us and so on. We are a network of associations that coordinate these summer schools and we are very happy when students move from one school to another, because we want our students to benefit from the most comprehensive training.

A.F.: What do you think has changed in the collective mentality as a result of the Ambulance's actions?

E.V.: Our role is that of mediator and mobilizer, the main aim being to make local communities aware of the value of their own heritage. Of course, when they see that we appreciate and come from all over the country to save a monument, they imagine that the building must be valuable, special. The first observation would be that they stop damaging it.

We had, at one point, an intervention on a monument from which the community was taking stone, because they no longer considered it to be of any use and it was deteriorating anyway. It all culminated in the question, "How can strangers come and save their monuments, I mean, what, it's theirs?". That was a first indicator of success, we managed to mobilize that community. The next step came with the attempts of other members of the community to take care of other monuments as well, and they gained courage from our intervention. Sometimes, they even order more elaborate restoration documentation themselves, for wood treatment, lightning protection, etc.

A.F.: Looking back, what conclusions have you drawn?

E.V.: Indeed, we have 4 years of experience and we have intervened on bigger and bigger problems, often we have even ended up doing major works and interventions that are on the verge of safety and go very much towards restoration and conservation, all this because you cannot just put a shingle on a rotten roof, you cannot just put rafters when, in fact, the roof has problems and then we end up intervening on many elements to give a longer life to that monument after the intervention.

We have learned to negotiate with the authorities, to raise funds in a more efficient way, to convince sponsors that everyone has to do their bit, we have managed to convince communities that without their help we cannot carry out these interventions. We have found a recipe for engaging all the actors involved in saving heritage.

The fact that we were granted the permits in record time, the fact that they also donate some of the materials, the fact that the priests, who are generally the beneficiaries, try to mobilize the community, the fact that many volunteers come and try to help, all these things have helped to make the interventions a success. We try to approach these heritage interventions transversally and learn as much as we can from them.

A.F.: How do you see the project in the future?

E.V.: For now, our concern is to increase the number of staff, of people who have some experience with monuments, who are passionate and want to participate as volunteers. It is very difficult, because they also have to join together, in a team it would be good to have an architect, an engineer, maybe a historian, 5-6 people to form an association and run this project. I find this rather difficult and we have decided that from next year onwards we will not expand very much in the territory, because it is very difficult for us to manage the first interventions in all the regions. It is only in two years' time that we would like to expand further.

Internationally, we can certainly apply some models from Romania, as we will have enough experience to guarantee its success. We want to extend the project to the Balkan area or to areas with similar problems, in countries where heritage has been degraded due to globalization and labour migration or other political and social problems. We want to get in touch with certain associations, to develop this project in other countries under a franchise.

We have started to be recognized internationally, not only through awards but also through other actions we are doing. We have recently applied to a conference in Japan on 'Making Monuments Safe' and we hope to at least export the model of making monuments safe, as it comes with a lot of objectives that offer sustainability and a more responsible approach to heritage beyond that first objective of making it safe.

Last but not least, as an association, we want to support the NGOs implementing the Ambulance, because they need logistical, financial and often even auxiliary staff to be able to coordinate those projects.

A.F.: What did it mean for the Monuments Ambulance to win the most important award in the field of heritage conservation, the Europa Nostra award?

E.V.: The joy was very short-lived, because we realized that the award comes with a very big responsibility, we received many messages, often we are not able to honour them and we are sorry, we realize that we still have a lot to improve on the organizational side, on the implementation of legislation, which often butt heads. For the volunteers, it was a great joy and honor.

We gained a lot of visibility and we need to structure the project better. We have a short experience where we have moved quite fast. Now we are trying to look back and learn from our mistakes, maybe also from the mistakes of others, learn from each other, try to improve, on the organizational side, on the environmental protection side, etc. It is not easy, because these kind of interventions are usually in more remote areas, where villages have been abandoned and it is difficult for us to deal with that side, but we are trying. We also had interventions on the landscape and nature side. Here we have tried to preserve all the natural elements, particularly the trees which are an integral part of the whole historic monument, we are trying to think about recycling materials, how we are going to certify those we want to use in the future etc.

It's a cross-cutting, multi-level approach, as heritage is a broad field that requires a lot of knowledge. We do everything in a responsible way and we also try to put a long-term perspective in our interventions, which can be a model for the community in the first place.

interview by Alexandra FLOREA