The project "Iron in the Manor! seen from different perspectives

Ștefan Mănciulescu, Chief Architect of Historical Monuments, Cantal, Corrèze and Haute-Loire departments

If you bring blacksmithing to the heart of the village and to the center of society's attention, I think it's a very good and very true thing because blacksmithing is in a way the mother of all trades. It's where everything started, where the first tools were made, and without iron, without blacksmiths, nothing would have been made; the first knife, the first hatchet, so it's an essential trade. Without blacksmithing we wouldn't exist as we are today. We can think for a moment what it would be like to live without iron and without tools. We bring everything to zero. Civilization rests on this craft. All over the world it's a trade that is honored and honorable. People who do blacksmithing are highly appreciated.

Vintilă Mihailescu, anthropologist

The extraordinary charm of the project Batemul ferro la conac! is this constant experimentation and play with materials, gestures and dreams. This fabric must remain alive.

It may sound pessimistic, but I think that's exactly what it should be: that this manor house should never end!

Andreea Chirca, architect

A happy meeting of souls, unexpected sincerities, organic smiles and laughter, the joy of working together. Here you build, you build houses, stoves, stories, memories, friendships, bridges across linguistic and cultural borders. You build yourself and discover, at the same time, the pleasure of working with materials: clay, iron, fresco. And perhaps the most fascinating thing is working with the human "material", because the clay shells of man hide things you would never imagine.

I lock the memories of the Carp mansion inside me like a jar of jam, from which I will gorge myself for a whole year and which will sweeten me when life turns bitter.

P.S. I like to say that at the "Iron in the Mansion! you go empty-footed and full-hearted.

Francois Coutant, architect, director of studies at the Coubertin Foundation, France

The Petre P. Carp Manor House in Țibănești is home to an exemplary project in this period of reflection and questioning on the place of manual work and people in the world, on the significance of their activities, particularly in the field of construction and crafts.

The Greek philosopher Anaxagoras wrote "man thinks because he has hands". This dialog between hand and thought permeates all the work around the Carp manor house, the use of building techniques and traditional crafts; their teaching enriches thinking, not in terms of passism but of creative traditions. The concrete application of each craft, based on a strong link with ancient values, updates and revives them. Teaching them in workshops confronts them with contemporary events, shows their values in building today's world by combining skills, combining the know-how of all countries and demonstrating their universality.

Șerban Sturdza, Alexandra Mihailciuc and all those who make possible the life of the mansion and all the activities it nurtures are ambassadors of an inspired vision of the world, which makes tradition a present and future, living, creative, unifying, living, creative value, proof that man can build and give meaning to his environment with humility, respect and measure.

Precisely this resonates with this excerpt from the Bauhaus manifesto, dating from 1919, just a century ago:

"Architects, sculptors, painters; we must all go back to manual labor, for there is no such thing as 'professional art'. There is no difference, after all, between artist and craftsman. The artist is just an inspired craftsman".

Rodica Dina, architect

I think that what happened this year is very important and should be repeated in order to awaken the conscience of the village. And when this alchemy happens, the village will know how to protect what it already has. And will be proud of this value.