Shingle, shingle, axe, hatchet, axe, bard, mesdreaua and horjitorul

AUTORS: Concept and realization: RPER Association

Workshop coordinator: Iozefina Postăvaru

The content of the panels is based on the trainees' results

UDV Bucium 2021 under the coordination:

President of RPER-France: Ștefana Bianu

President of RPER - Romania: Ioana Bogdan-Cătăniciu

second coordinator: Mihaela Lazăr

COLLABORATORS: UDV Bucium trainers: Dragoș Băbeanu, Cristina Bolog, Codina Dușoiu, Mihaela Lazăr, Octavian Mănoiu, Iozefina Postăvaru

The drawings have been realized on the basis of the relief and with the help of the students:

Alexandra Aluchi, Alina Anton, Ana Nicola Bocănici, Siliviu Cosmin Chesnoiu,

Ioana Bianca Condruz, Bianca Floarea, Monica Ilinca, Cristian Mircea,

Alexandru Petrescu, Tamara Albertina Popescu, Anca Tudor

The photos were taken by trainees and tutors of UdV Bucium

Graphic design of promotional materials: Mircea Șitoianu

LOCATION: Romania, jud. Alba, Bucium

4,500 pieces of shingle were made by the craftsman Petru Vișa in the fall-winter of 2015, at the request of the RPER, to be used for the rehabilitation of the roof of the Doicear house in the hamlet of Ferești, awarded in the RPER competition "The most decorated house", 2013 edition, as well as for the reconstructed staircase of the Colda house, rehabilitated by the RPER, between 2011-2015.

Shingle, the traditional covering for buildings in Bucium commune, Alba county, has become a rarity today, as have the people who still know how to make it. The craftsman Petru Vișa from the hamlet of Helești is one of them. I discovered him, after years of searching, during the 5th edition of the Bucium Summer University (2015), organized by the Rencontres du Patrimoine Europe-Roumanie (RPER) association. In his workshop, with traditional shingle tools shaken by the dust of oblivion, the trainees and the instructors of the Bucium 2015 UdV learned the techniques of cracking, cutting, mesdrelling and guarding specific to the making of shingle in the Mo Mountains. Each learner produced a finished shingle, which they put together to practise re-roofing a well.

Grinding and forging

In the soundscape of the Abruzel Valley, the one criss-crossed by the mouths of old gold mines, the sound of splitting fir stumps and the sound of sawing shingles with mesdras reappeared. The 8th edition of UdV Bucium (2019) was organized around the theme of reviving the craft of shingle production (something specified in both the title and the logo of the edition), capitalizing on the decision of the OAR of 17 December 2018 to co-fund the Summer Schools of Architecture through the Cultural Projects Programme, as a separate line for initiatives in rural and small urban areas. The shingle workshop, the central theme of the 8th edition of UdV Bucium, resulted in a new series of shingle "calfe" - trainees who, under the guidance of the craftsman Petru Vișa, mastered all the traditional steps of the process: choosing the straight-fiber fir, cutting and splitting the stump, half-graining and forging. They used the maiul, the axe, the bard, the mezdreaua and the horjitorul, which are also the components of the UdV Bucium 2019 logo.

Between Bucium and Rosia Montana

The ninth edition of UdV Bucium (2021) maintained the focus on the reactivation of traditional crafts, adding to that of the production of shingle that of the construction and maintenance of bread ovens. The logo of the edition graphically brought together the two areas of traditional practices in Bucium. The shingle workshop was organized this time in the house of the craftsman Petru Vișa, isolated in a natural setting of outstanding beauty, on one of the hills between Bucium and Rosia Montana. The transfer of know-how between generations of all ages has taken place in good humor and hard work in both directions.

Safeguarding rural heritage through education

Echoes of the Shingle Workshop can be "heard" on the RPER facebook page. Also here, for the complicated period of 2020, which did not allow the UdV Bucium to take place on the ground, you can watch the movie "Shingle in the Apuseni", made by Alba Carolina TV, about the craftsman Petru Vișa, who wears, in the movie, shirt and cap bearing the logo of the 8th edition of the Bucium Summer University (2019) - "Safeguarding rural heritage through education - with the revival of the traditional craft of producing shingle", in recognition of the RPER's merit in having discovered and reactivated his workshop. "... It was and will be history... All ancient crafts will remain a story, they are all disappearing. Respect for your hard work, health and strength to carry on this craft! Buciumani, hardworking, nice, humane people!" reads a comment taken from RPER's FB, July 22, 2020.