24 YEARS IN THE SERVICE OF ROMANIAN HERITAGE AND COMMUNITIES
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March 18, 2024
The partnership initiated five years ago between Pro Patrimonio Foundation and UiPath Foundation continues throughout 2024 in the communities of children around the George Enescu House in Mihăileni and Neamțu Manor in Olari – historical monuments from Botoșani and Olt counties.
Over the past ten years Pro Patrimonio Foundation has been promoting education of and for heritage, through its trans-annual and interdisciplinary “Education for Heritage” program wherever the Foundation physically intervenes. The more over 40 workshops initiated by Pro Patrimonio these past years are mainly aimed at children in the 7-14 age group, in vulnerable situations in the communities where the foundation carries out its projects for the rescue, conservation and rehabilitation of architectural heritage (Golescu Villa in Câmpulung, Neamțu Manor in Olari, Perticari-Davila Manor in Argeș, George Enescu House in Mihăileni, etc.).
The activities are organized annually in the form of practical workshops and aim to educate and teach directly, through experimentation and creativity, about architectural heritage, local memory and identity, nature, buildings, relationships between people and cultural values. “Enescu House Festive Days” (2020), “School of Landscape, Art and Sound” (2021), “The Story of My Village” (2022) and the “Heritage in a Pack” kit series are examples of projects and activities that have taken place in previous years at Enescu House and Neamțu Manor and have involved not only local children and young people but also the local community.
This year, the heritage education component is called “Heritage Kit and Caravan – Homes and Communities Working Together “ and is being carried out with monthly activities, kits and workshops in five communities where Pro Patrimonio is undergoing restoration interventions.
The partnership initiated five years ago with the UiPath Foundation’s support programes was thus natural, benefiting from the expertise of local needs identified so that the intervention could have the desired effect.
Started with 20 children near the George Enescu House in Mihăileni, Botoșani in January 2020, UiPath Foundation’s flagship intervention – “Leap towards the Future” – has grown each year and reached its 5th year of collaboration with Pro Patrimonio Foundation to provide educational support for 40 children and their families. A year later the program was replicated in the socially disadvantaged communities around the Neamțu Manor in Olari, Olt, a monument also under the care of Pro Patrimonio Foundation. Here, from 2021, through this collaboration it was possible to provide support for 20 children, now reaching 30 beneficiaries. The tangible support is continuous, constant throughout the year, annually. Through this educational program, children from socially vulnerable families – aged between 11 and 16 – receive an integrated package of support, with the aim of reducing the risk of dropping out of school and helping them to reach their full potential.
The intervention requires a long-term approach that takes into account the child’s whole ecosystem. Through the program, children benefit from weekly tutoring lessons for Romanian language and literature, Mathematics or English to strengthen their school knowledge. In addition, they benefit from various educational activities, monthly scholarships, tablets with internet access and educational apps, medical and psychological support. Families also receive regular packages of food, school supplies, clothing, shoe ware and books.
Every child in the program participates in “Inspirational Speakers”, “Conversation Club” and U&I Summer Camp, just a few examples of other landmark activities that broaden children’s horizons about their career paths, encourage them to practice English through interactive activities, and provide the framework for the development of many skills, including effective communication, teamwork, managing emotions, digital skills and financial literacy.
Foto: Cătălin Georgescu
In line with Pro Patrimonio’s objectives and mission – in this collaborative project for the George Enescu House – a dedicated project entitled “Music Academy for Children” was established in 2020 . It gave the opportunity to a group of children from the towns of Mihăileni and Vârful Câmpului in Botoșani to educate themselves in the spirit of music. The program facilitates children and young people from the area to develop their musical skills, study an instrument, participate in local competitions and meet established artists who give recitals at “Concerts on the Siret River”. The aim of the weekly courses is not necessarily performance, but the formation of a musical culture and personal development through music. A new generation of children from Mihăileni will join the program in May this year.
To support young people studying piano, in 2022, through the collaboration between Pro Patrimonio and teacher Diana Bratan, the manual “Introduction to the ABC of Music. A guide for teachers and parents”. The publication introduced, clearly and concisely, through graphic illustrations, indispensable notions for a solid musical foundation. Printed copies were distributed free of charge to interested teachers and young people, and the digital version is still available online in the Pro Patrimonio Foundation’s Useful Resources Library.
In February 2024, Pro Patrimonio provided consultancy to a local community. It is the Zarifopol Manor in the village of Cârligi, Bacău county, in a state of abandonment and vandalization due to a long process of retrocession. The villagers want it not to disappear and to be used again, to bring new life and energy into the community. This was the site of the village school during the communist period and the descendants of the family that claimed the property wanted to keep the educational and cultural activities in the manor. Unfortunately legal issues are still unresolved, so the manor is deteriorating. A local initiative group has decided to take the necessary steps for conservation until disputes are resolved, which will then allow its revitalization. Otherwise it will ruin beyond salvage.
From 6-8 November the British Council’s Circular Catalysts programme travelled to London. The Romanian Cultural Institute in London hosted the exhibition, meetings, discussions, presentations and workshops during this phase of the project.
Vernisajul din 6 noiembrie a adunat o comunitate extinsă de oameni interesați, expaţi dar nu numai. Aceștia au fost întâmpinați de discursurile organizatorilor și a oamenilor direct implicați în proiect: Andrew Glass (director British Council România), Aura Woodward (director ICR Londra), Marlene Herberth (Kraftmade). O ceremonie a ceaiului coordonată de Marlene Herberth – „ How to Get Through the Day ” și o sesiune mult așteptată de networking cu toți actorii acestui proiect – pentru prima oară împreună – au întregit acest eveniment.
Pro Patrimonio has been part of this project from the beginning (in March 2023), organising workshops, presentations and sections of the general exhibition.
The opening on 6 November brought together a large community of interested people, expats and others. They were welcomed by speeches from the organisers and those directly involved in the project. A tea ceremony and a long-awaited networking session with all the actors of this project – together for the first time – completed the event.
Afterwards, the exhibition framework facilitated free discussions between the professionals directly involved in the project – designers, craftsmen, makers, artists – organisers and guests. An open table for dialogue was organised, during which different scenarios for the continuation of the project were discussed.
The last evening was dedicated to a botanical print workshop designed and implemented by Andreea Machidon along with British designer Anoushka Cole. Andreea and Anoushka’s textile printing techniques took the audience on a fascinating visual and tactile journey.
Photo credits: ICR Londra
Other events within the project:
Circular Catalysts ajunge la Londra
Circular Catalysts la HEI Timişoara
Ateliere de Explorări şi Imprimări Botanice
Circular Catalysts- reziliență și dezvoltare durabilă locală prin design și meșteșug
Rezidenţă Circular Catalysts la Vila Golescu
Jurnal de rezidenţă Circular Catalysts
Expoziţia Pro Patrimonio din cadrul Circular Catalysts. Romanian Design Week 2023
In November, the Forgotten Textures – Historical Plastering project team, supported by restorer Ana Chiricuță, carried out some tests on the facade of a building on Mătăsari Street, Bucharest, with the owners’ consent. Using the results of the analysis of the façade mortar, an attempt was made to reproduce the plaster to fill in the missing areas. The plaster samples were analysed in two different laboratories and resulted in different compositions. Both lime-only and lime-cement mixture compositions were tested. The proportion of aggregates could not be reproduced identically, as the laboratory result indicated an unnaturally high proportion, which the binder does not have the capacity to bind.
In November, the Forgotten Textures – Historical Plastering project team, supported by restorer Ana Chiricuță, carried out some tests on the facade of a building on Mătăsari Street, Bucharest, with the owners’ consent. Using the results of the analysis of the façade mortar, an attempt was made to reproduce the plaster to fill in the missing areas. The plaster samples were analysed in two different laboratories and resulted in different compositions. Both lime-only and lime-cement mixture compositions were tested. The proportion of aggregates could not be reproduced identically, as the laboratory result indicated an unnaturally high proportion, which the binder does not have the capacity to bind.
“Forgotten Texts – Historical Plastering. Research and practical studies for repair and maintenance” Project in phase II carried out by Pro Patrimonio Foundation and supported by the Romanian Order of Architects from the Architecture Stamp Tax and PSC Group.
Read also:
Jurnal de proiect în luna august
Teste practice la Palatul Dauerbach din Timișoara
December 2023
We are currently working intensively on a protective superstructure for the wooden church in Șirineasa, Vâlcea county. With the support of the Fondation de France and the Storck House Foundation, we are going to succeed in protecting the building before the onset of winter. The structure is necessary both to preserve the whole building and to allow us to carry out repair work on the roof and the wicker vaulting next year.
Despite the critical times it is going through, the Enescu House in Mihăileni proves its vitality through the strong links it creates and carries forward. The local community has come to our aid in various ways. These people have been part of the educational projects we have been running in the community for four years now, as well as the three editions of Concerts on the Siret river. The house-symbol has already been reclaimed in the local identity and they don’t want to lose it.
Following the biological attack that the wooden structure of the house suffered (infestation with the Merulius lacryman fungus) the work to save the house has returned and is progressing against the clock to avoid winter.
Survey researches to detect the presence of the fungus deep within the outer walls have been carried out with the constant assistance of biologist Ionela Melinte. The house structure was supported with metal posts to allow interventions on the walls. Undercuts were made where necessary. The external drains were completed and the systemization works were completed by creating a slope and stone platform in the northern area.
All infested wood was burned so as not to carry the pest to other places, and unattached wood material was treated preventively with Bochemit solution.
The fungus identified in the cracks of apparently healthy wood
As a solution adapted to the place and the construction site, samples were made with a press for the bricks in the ground, the resulting bricks to be used for repairs.
An interview given by architect Șerban Sturdza, president of the Pro Patrimonio Foundation and architect Sergiu Popa, the local site coordinator, for Mr. Gabriel Basarabescu on Radio Romania Actualități’s After Walls show puts the spotlight on all this unceasing struggle and effort that gives meaning to our work.
We gratefully thank the local donors who have chosen to direct money to this general effort; the Local Council of the Municipality of Mihaileni, Botoșani county and Mr. Mayor Laurențiu Bărbăcariu as well as the two companies – without whose substantial financial help this would not have been possible – EGGER Group and Dedeman.
We need the money to buy time for the Enescu House!
Read also:
O ciupercă dăunătoare afectează lemnul Casei George Enescu din Mihăileni. Intervenţii de urgenţă
Eliminarea umezelii la Casa George Enescu. Şantier sub observaţie.
Paris, September 14th, 2023
The second edition of “Cycle Patrimoine” took place from September 14 th to October 5th, 2023 at the Macadam Gallery, Romanian Cultural Institute. The event in Paris brought together a dense programme of exhibitions and conferences on civil society initiatives for the protection and enhancement of heritage in Romania.
The exhibition was curated by Carolyne d’Assay, President of Pro Patrimonio France. It proposes the theme of safeguarding and reusing a particular architectural typology: CONAC, the secondary residence in the countryside for wealthy families since the Middle Ages, but also the main residence of the great landowners.
The event honours these less famous private buildings and their current fate. It also identifies and lists conservation initiatives for these places of the same type as Pro Patrimonio, as well as the diversity of these manor’s current owners and their uses.
Pro Patrimonio Foundation and the Romanian Cultural Institute want to present each year a set of valuable practices, grouped around a specific theme.
Each year, Pro Patrimonio Foundation and the Romanian Cultural Institute wish to present a set of valuable practices, articulated around a specific theme.
The event was organized in partnership with the Romanian Embassy in France.
Download the booklet in French Manoirs en Roumanie. „Les Conac”, Vie et Destin
In June-September, with the agreement of the architect and the contractor, the project team participated as observers in several tests carried out to clean a facade of a similipierre brickwork. This involved dry blasting with different materials, wet blasting with water jet at various temperatures and pressures.
The observations made, combined with the literature research, show that in the case of dry blasting, low pressure and the least abrasive materials are recommended (in this case calcium carbonate was used). Pressure washing highlights microcracks in the surface of the plaster and raises questions about over-saturation of the plaster and masonry from the amount of water sprayed at very high pressure. Thick accumulated dirt is difficult to clean, either at very high pressure or by insisting a lot with the cleaning jet (wet or dry) leading to uneven surface erosion.
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Cleaning with water jet
Sandblasting with calcium carbonate
Sandblasting with Garnet
During the summer, the project team also started the analysis and interpretation of the first analysis results from collected plaster samples.Three different laboratories were contacted, one of them from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. The first observations are related to a wide variety of composition (binder-aggregate ratios). The types and quality of the cements used are aspects that require more detailed and in-depth understanding and investigation.
Thanks to our partners: Kerakoll, Remmers, Timis County Department for Culture
Thanks to Polarh architectural office and Erbașu firm for the access to the restoration site of the University Palace in Bucharest
“Forgotten Textures – Historical Plastering. Research and practical studies for repair and maintenance” Project in phase II carried out by Pro Patrimonio Foundation and supported by the Romanian Order of Architects from the Architecture Stamp Tax and PSC Group.
Read also:
Jurnal de proiect în luna august
Teste practice la Palatul Dauerbach din Timișoara
Bucharest, 10/04/2023
In the study on the repair and maintenance of historic plasterwork, observations and information from practical tests, ongoing construction sites and laboratory analyses were gathered. Given the great diversity of modernist plaster, the team decided to focus mainly on similarly painted plaster and, in particular, on how to clean and repair it.
The study uses basic principles in the conservation practice of historic buildings, whether listed or not. However, these buildings that form the basis for the observation are part of protected areas, where the appearance of the facades determines the character and value of the area. As a result, we list situations, encountered in this study, where basic principles used in the conservation of historic buildings have been used:
Interventions on historic plasterwork, whatever their nature (cleaning, completion, repair, consolidation, etc.) should use the principle of minimal intervention, only where strictly necessary and as far as possible reversible. Interventions should not affect the original material in the long term, so as not to hinder possible future conservation processes that may be carried out with other more modern methods that may emerge in the years to come;
Halfway through the project period, we present some of the project team’s observations and recommendations:
But what we have observed and discussed with material suppliers is that today’s materials are not identical to those used in the early 20th century, due to differences in production (e.g. cement) and even in the raw materials from which they are made. It is therefore important to find the optimal compatibility, based on physico-chemical behaviour.
The study will not provide standard solutions because each case is unique, but the principles and recommendations for approach can provide support for interventions that better protect valuable textures and even help to lower intervention costs. We are working on a set of recommendations for intervention steps for the rehabilitation of historic modernist façades, as well as recommendations for technical specifications (about material and intervention methods) for projects and specifications.
“Forgotten Textures – Historical Plasterwork. Research and practical studies for repair and maintenance” is a project carried out by Pro Patrimonio Foundation. supported by the Order of Architects of Romania from the Architecture Stamp and PSC Group.
Summer evening at Concerts on the Siret river, August 22 marked the end of the master course held by pianist Raluca Știrbăț at the Miclescu Manor in Călinești, Botoșani county.
The protagonists of the concert were the seven young pianists participating in the masterclass, students of the national music colleges of Botoșani, Suceava, Iași, Bacău, Piatra-Neamț and Bucharest, multiple winners of national competitions and not only: Ruxandra Blându, Theodora Epuran, Bianca Hăvîrneanu, Maria-Cristina Hrițcu, Alexandra Marițencu, Irina Petrescu and George Țăranu.
The unconventional and reconverted former agricultural space in Călinești generously hosted the Bösendorfer piano and a very large audience. In this unique and charming setting, more than 170 participants enjoyed an event of the finest artistic quality, with a difficult, complex and varied piano repertoire, from Mozart, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt to Silvestri and Rautavaara.
At the same time, an exhibition of panels presented the stages of work that the Enescu House in Mihăileni, the pivotal element of the Concerts on the Siret, has gone through, now undergoing extensive repairs after a xylophagous and biological attack on the wooden structure. The setting of the Călinești farm complemented the ambience of the concert with a small exhibition selling local produce.
We thank Egger for their support, Bucecea and Mihăileni Town Halls, Project Botoșani, Botoșani Order of Architects, Ideograf, Cella Cosimex, Maria Association, Sturdza family and all those who made this event possible, as well as the tireless ambassador of Enescu’s music, pianist Raluca Știrbăț.
Read also:
Concerte pe Siret, ediția a III-a
Cum a fost la „Concerte pe Siret”
„Concerte pe Siret”. 140 de ani de la nașterea lui George Enescu
