23 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.
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
The constant, step-by-step restoration of the Neamțu Manor in Olari has been started since 2018. Currently undergoing restoration, the manor is an important landmark for the local community. Started in 2021 together with the UiPath Foundation the project “Experimental Centre for Studies and Education at the Neamțu Manor in Olari” is dedicated to this place. As in all other interventions carried out by Pro Patrimonio, the restoration, the construction site and all efforts to activate, educate and involve the local community are open, public processes.
After completig the facades’ restoration in 2022, this year we are focusing our efforts to carry out repairs and restoration of the finishes in the interior spaces of the manor floor.
Thus, we have started working on the ceilings, where the manor largely kept only the roof structure beams. There are a few exceptions: in the room facing the main façade, a large part of the vaulted ceiling has been preserved, and in the loggia on the north-west side, fragments of the wooden panelling covering the ceiling have been preserved.
The threadlike wooden battens substructure of the ceiling plaster has now been rebuilt and the first layer of mineral wool is being laid in the attic. We are using modern materials (basaltic mineral wool, generously sponsored by Rockwool România, thank you!) in order not to add extra weight to the existing structure and to increase the interior comfort of the floor, limiting heat loss during cold periods, when we will heat and use the spaces.
At the same time, we are also adding the electrical installation for lighting, sockets and switches, in compliance with all the technical safety regulations.
We have also started to install the canopy at the secondary entrance. This was dismantled last year to complete repairs to the facade plaster. The team of carpenters led by Mr. Florin Ganea — who has helped us for years with specialized work on the Wooden Church from Urși — cleaned the wooden pieces and filled in what was missing, in order to rebuild the entire canopy.
At the „Experimental Centre for Studies and Education at the Neamțu Manor in Olari” we have been testing over the past year soil stability solutions for dry, parched land types. This agricultural experiment for the garden at the Neamțu Manor in Olari showed that it is necessary to work on smaller segments to create areas of favourable microclimate. These can then be slowly extended over the whole field.
For this purpose, for the northern windbreak, we continued planting branches of wicker (Salix Viminalis), a plant that exists in the vineyard areas where it is used to tie the vine ropes. The rest of the land is still used for small production crops ( sunflower and corn – local varieties).
The manor’s caretakers weed the crops by hand. We would like to be able to purchase a professional tiller to make the work and the labour more efficient. The caretakers are employed from the local community and also work to help the teams of craftsmen restoring the manor.
June
The room we call the “chapel” is beginning to take shape thanks to the architectural details. The restoration craftsmen together with the caretakers of the manor have repaired the ceiling, installed the electrical fittings and just finished the plastering, so the space suddenly looks much more airy.
At the beginning of autumn, the sunflowers and the corn grown on the land around the manor were harvested. We sell this grain for firewood and other expenses for future plantations. With the help of a private donor, we were able to buy a chainsaw, which will be of great help in the following agricultural work.
We thank him with gratitude. Small steps that create a whole.
Between August 30 and September 3, 2022, the Neamţu Manor in Olari became the host of the Pro Patrimonio Foundation’s Heritage Caravan for the 7th consecutive year. “The story of my village” was the theme of educational workshops.
Approximately 20 children from the local community benefited from an intense program of practical and creative workshops coordinated by the theme of discovering their own village and the cultural and natural context it has.
We thanks for the support to UiPath Foundation.
We took advantage of a still warm autumn at Neamţu Manor. We are installing the insulation donated by ROCKWOOL under the floor above the basement so that we can heat the upstairs room in the future. Soon we will be able to host the children’s workshops in the mansion as well, not just outside, on summer days.
Foto: Daniela Gheorghiu
Foto: Raluca Munteanu
At the end of a new year of extensive construction, the Neamţu Manor presents itself brightly in the meadow of Olteţ river. It is an example of strong hope for other historical monuments that can be saved and given a new life.
We thank our individual donors who choose to support this lasting project as well as the companies that constantly support us.
Foto: Ovidiu Serghe
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For the start of the construction site at the beginning of April 2021, the mansion windows are being repaired and completed with the carpentry workshop Etrusca srl and the contract for the manor facades has been signed with a company specialized in the restoration, SHK Edificii Casa company.
With the support of funding obtained in the Historical Monument Stamp Tax competition launched by the National Heritage Institute in 2020, we have developed and submitted for approval the projects necessary to obtain the building licence. At the beginning of June 2021 we obtained the Building Licence with no 3/03.06.2021. For the conservation of the Neamțu Manor, Olari Village, Parșcoveni Commune, Olt County and the transformation into an experimental study and education centre, LMI 2015-OT-II-m-B-08968.
Refinishing of the manor facade is progressing. Over the lime plaster the craftsmen noticed a harder thinning layer which helped the drawn profiles to have straight edges. We analysed this layer with the help of the Technical University of Construction to better understand its structure and composition. We will do an on site lime plaster test. Many thanks to Pro Patrimonio France for the cremone bolts sent to Romania, we could no longer find this window closing system here.
Slowly but surely, the manor is already taking on a new life and getting ready for the new meetings with children from the surrounding communities that will take place over the summer.
This week, together with our partners from the UiPath Foundation, we visited the schools around Neamțu Manor and the two communities where 20 children from vulnerable families will soon join the Future Acceleration Program. The secondary school children will receive integrated support to ensure better access to education and will participate in educational activities in the Manor’s courtyard.
During the month of July, facade repair works for the Neamțu Manor continued. After the actual plaster coat was applied, it was finished with a very fine sand lime paint, and the drawn profiles were finished with “ceapac” (a mixture of lime with glue and water macerated for about 10 days). This mixture makes it possible to produce precise and durable edges.
New window frames for the mansion windows have also been fitted. Although most of the original casings have been preserved, their condition is not suitable for fitting new sashes, so it was decided to add new ones to the outside, adding them to the existing ones, which would allow new sashes to be fitted and properly used.
Thanks to spring efforts and support, the manor has a new well, which now allows us to cope with the drought that has already set in. Despite the heavy rains in the country, there has been very little rain in Olari and the land is very dry. Unfortunately many of the seeds planted in the experimental garden started in spring did not germinate (it seems they were too old and the land was not prepared in time), but we have continued to ask around the village which hardy varieties the locals are using, so that in autumn we can better prepare the garden.
From August 2021 Neamțu Mansion has a new look!
At the beginning of August, the SHK Edificii Casa team completed the repairs to the exterior plaster and the installation of the new windows, which complete the existing frames. The decorative profile on the volume of the staircase was also completed with plaster cast elements, elements that were already cast previously with the support of Cella Cosimex, to whom we thank.
With the repair of the facades, the loggia upstairs reopened, allowing us to admire the surrounding landscape.
The drought is as severe as in previous years, most of the experiments started in the spring were fruitless. One kind of colored corn varieties grew and bore weakly. However, the mixture of local pumpkins developed well, covering part of the soil. Those observed this year allow us to make plans for next year for the Experimental Garden.
In September we hosted in Olari the U&I summer camp, organised by UiPath Foundation for the children in Future Acceleration Program, for which Pro Patrimonio provides support. A total of 20 children from two neighboring villages, Osica de sus and Branet, spent a couple of eventful days full of creative and stimulating activities. The movie-worthy aspect of the Neamtu Mansion, complete with its freshly renewed white facade, added to the scenery.
The Pro Patrimonio team in Olt welcomed a new member in their team. Together with the three employees taking care of the mansion, she joins the education branch to support the Future Acceleration Program.
The workshop about heritage education also happened in September, where children from Olari took part right before school started. When it ended, the foundation employees stationed at the mansion started preparing compote cans, thus elevating the local production. The dessert is to be enjoyed by children coming to the mansion next year. The window setup has been finished on the building site and now the mansion is preparing for the cold season by mounting protections during the winter for the beautiful Roman-inspired mosaic lodge situated upstairs. The experimental mansion garden will also undergo changes during the autumn, so that next spring the land will be ready for farming. We would like to take this chance to thank ROMCIM for their support in completing these activities.
We are also cherishing the recovery of a fountain this month, priorly situated until 1949 in the Neamtu mansion garden. This was moved away during the communist period, but recovered and returned back now in the memory of Mr. Serban Neamtu, the last mansion owner. This tiny bit of success in recovering the lost identity of this place makes past efforts worth it.
In November we showed all the areas previously used tests, thus preparing the garden for next year’s experiments. We intend to continue to test the different varieties of plants useful for a productive garden that can withstand drought.
Thanks to the donation of Mrs. Sînziana Coșeru, the daughter of Mr. Neamțu, the mansion received new pipes and gutters installed very quickly in the last sunny days of December.
Read also:
Gradina experimentala de la Conacul Neamţu
Un nou atelier de educaţie pentru patrimoniu la Conacul Neamţu din Olari
Jurnal de Atelier de Educaţie la Conacul Neamţu, septembrie 2021
Press selection:
Reconstruim teritorii, coagulăm comunități, experimentăm responsabil. Conacul Neamțu din Olari – Igloo
Fost conac din Olt, reabilitat de un ONG şi transformat în centru educaţional – Realitatea de Olt
AUDIO. Interviu cu Serban Sturdza – Preşedintele Fundaţiei Pro Patrimonio şi Raluca Negulescu-Balaci – Director executiv UiPath Foundation – Radio România Muzical
Radio România Actualităţi – Dincolo de ziduri (min 19:23) interviu cu Raluca Munteanu – Radio România Actualităţi
The desertification process has become a chronic problem in southern Romania. Experts estimate that over 1,000 hectares of land become sand dunes every year, which means that in 50 years the vast majority of southern lands will be covered with sand, in the absence of immediate action.
The Neamţu manor in Olari is located on 1.3 ha terrain which, in the interwar period, was the administrative center of another agricultural field, surrounded by a recreational garden. In the 50’s it became the CAP in the village, gradually becoming dry land, transformed into a vacant lot.
Located in the Olteţ meadow, 30 km from Slatina and 43 km from Craiova, Olari village in Pârşcoveni commune is a predominantly agricultural, impoverished area, with certain desertification tendencies due to climate change, deforestation and destruction of existing irrigation systems. Many families live only on unemployment support, the inhabitants are deprived of access to information, which is why they practice the same type of agriculture without the result with which they were accustomed.
The “Experimental Center for Studies and Education at the Neamţu Manor in Olari” will initiate a model of experimental agriculture that will provide soil stability with sustainable solutions for the future. We also want to offer a model for the use and rescue of these types of arid, dried up lands for the rural community. Thus, the locals will be able to practice a subsistence agriculture and even medium-term long-term agriculture.
In this process we partnered up with Forgotten Herbs for their expertise in culinary archeology, with an emphasis on food plants from spontaneous flora or forgotten by contemporary gastronomy. Together we planned to create a small experimental garden around the mansion. We will grow there some species and varieties resistant to drought, the scorching heat of Oltenia and its type of soil. This year we will try an experiment with some more resistant historical species, but which will also have a connection with the place.
For this we chose fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-graecum), an aromatic plant from which both leaves and seeds are used and which we know were used in the old Oltenian cuisine, and peas (Lathyrus sativus), a legume almost unknown today, but widely consumed in the ancient Balkans, for which we ordered the seeds from Croatia. We add two kinds of artichokes (Cynara scolymus), an ingredient that appears in the Brâncovenesc Manuscript from the early 1700s, giving us indications, practically, that these plants were cultivated in southern Romania.
We will plant four traditional species of Mesoamerican corn well adapted to drought conditions, obtained from a collector of rare varieties from Satu Mare.
We try to help the dry soil from Olari by practicing traditional agriculture according to the “three sisters” method by which corn is grown with beans and pumpkins, three species that grow in harmony and help each other by loosening the soil in depth and enriching it naturally with nitrogen. and nutrients.
We also join some varieties of traditional beans (including Anasazi), others of pumpkins of many kinds and calabash (Lagenaria siceraria) another culinary plant that appears in the Brâncovenesc Manuscript, consumed at the royal court before the pumpkins reached Eastern Europe, today completely forgotten.
In autumn we will also put raisin vines that we will take from the Research Station from Drăgășani and possibly lavender.
There used to be a water fountain as well as a decorative fountain. We consider it a priority to build a well that provides clean water for these agricultural works as we found the old well to be clogged. So we started drilling a new well. Although the initial forecasts showed that we will find water at a depth of 20 meters, it turned out that nature has plans of its own and the water is at a depth of 33 meters. Additional desanding and protection works against sand were added so the costs doubled. However, through a public call we managed to raise the amount of 5,825 lei which was covered by 34 private donors and the Bilceşti Gardens from Vâlcea County. We give out thanks to all.
Forgotten Herbs started out in 2012 as an independent botanical exploration project from the perspective of culinary archeology, focusing on food plants from spontaneous flora forgotten or lost by contemporary gastronomy. Over time, the project has evolved in several complementary directions, involving a team of people welded around the same passions at the intersection of botanical research and food anthropology, with forays into history and art, but also encompassing a physical side of interaction with nature through community gardening, volunteering and environmental education activities. Thus the “Historical Garden” was born, a thematic sector located in the Botanical Garden of Bucharest populated with plants grown in the eras before the arrival and spread of plant species brought from the New World, followed by the Legumim project, an urban garden of ethically grown and sustainable vegetables. according to the principles of permaculture.
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After all the studies we talked about earlier, the next step is to obtain the authorization to carry out the intervention works (a building permit). The procedure has several stages: a local planning certificate is requested from the local town hall, indicating what is permitted according to the local regulations and what other authorities must analyse in advance (mandatory bills) the project before issuing the permit. In the case of works on historic buildings (monuments) the views of the Directorate for County Culture and the State Inspectorate for Construction are mandatory.
The divisions responsible for culture evaluate (in theory) the way in which, through the project, the heritage value of the building is preserved and may request modifications of the solution so as to ensure a quality intervention in compliance with the principles of heritage protection. The culture divisions consult with the Regional Monuments Commission, composed of specialists in the field, for these approvals in order to issue relevant points of view. Unfortunately, in practice, more and more often, these opinions are conditioned by various interests, divergent from those of heritage conservation and enhancement. The project presented to the Directorate for Culture and implicitly to the Regional Commission contains the preliminary studies and the proposed architectural solution in which all the intervention works, repairs and possibly additions, modifications with the related justifications are made explicit.
After collecting information about the building – historical study – analysis of materials – geotechnical study – topographic survey – technical expertise – we can determine what we can do with it and how. It is natural for the architect to help establish the direction, but it is good to keep in mind that any building is used by people and therefore the establishment of the DESIGN THEME should be done while consulting its users, and the architect should be the conductor and moderator of the received ideas. The architect’s job is to harmonize the desires and needs of use with the constraints resulting from the first stage of analysis. Thus, the diagnosis shows where the problems that need to be remedied lie, what are the valuable elements that need to be preserved, what are the constraints related to materials and technique. In the case of the Neamțu Manor, for example, the Roman mosaic on the first floor is an extremely valuable element that must be preserved, so that any intervention on the floor of the rooms with mosaic on them must be avoided.
In order to reach a Design Theme dedicated to the Neamţu Manor from Olari, we consulted children who regularly participate in non-formal heritage education workshops. We considered them to be the main future users of the site and, consequently, their opinion very important. We have prepared a series of kit materials through which we conducted this investigation.
What the children want:
After the consultative phase, the role of the architect intervenes, who selects from these points of view what is possible and what is more difficult or not at all appropriate. In the case of the Neamțu mansion, solar panels are not an option because they alter the architecture – which all the “beneficiaries” (the children from the local community participating in the non-formal heritage education workshops) want to preserve.
Architect-client cooperation is essential for the end result to meet the needs of users. Even if some requirements seem fanciful and childish, the architect is the one who will know (should know) to translate them into concrete and realistic elements.
Pro Patrimonio won a financing through the Historical Monuments Stamp Tax of the INP for the realization of the technical documentation for the authorization and execution of the conservation works for the Neamțu Manor in Olari. We use this opportunity to tell what such a journey, which seems very complicated, bureaucratic and accessible only to specialists, means We hope you’ll find it useful and become more confident in the support provided by professionals for this absolutely necessary step to intervene in an existing building, not just in the case of a historical monument.
The project consists of several stages. The first is the diagnosis – what are the problems of the house. Just like at the doctor’s office, we first evaluate the health condition and the causes of the visible degradations, but we also perform material analyses in order to be able to evaluate the house’s behaviour in more detail.
What the diagnosis stage consists of:
> SURVEY >> HISTORICAL STUDY >> MATERIAL ANALYSIS >> GEOTECHNICAL STUDY >> TOPOGRAPHIC LIFTING >> TECHNICAL EXPERTISE
THE SURVEY is the complete drawing of the building (plans, sections, facades), made by the architect. You can measure in the classic way – with roulette and draw each piece separately, or you can opt for modern technology – 3D scanning. The survey is combined with photographs and direct observations to note the degradations that are observed: cracks, missing elements (windows, plasters, finishes, chimneys) or deformations and displacements of constituent elements. Direct observation can also bring information about the different stages of construction (if joints or differences in materials are observed).
The evolution of the building over time – changes, use, references and old images – is particularly important to understand the current state of the building.
THE HISTORICAL STUDY also analyses the cultural value of the various constituent elements, establishing, in the case of historical monuments, how to intervene (e.g. strict conservation, repairs with compatible materials, etc.). In the case of the Neamțu Manor, the Roman mosaic on the first floor is one of the most valuable elements that must be strictly preserved.
Other analyses necessary to establish the diagnosis are ANALYSIS OF MATERIALS (brick, mortar, plaster, wood) in order to determine their composition and their degree of resistance. If there are several types of materials, most of them should be tested. If there are areas with high humidity, humidity measurements in the depth of the walls or construction elements are also recommended. In the case of organic materials (wood), the biochemical analysis of the elements is also recommended, in order to establish if there are biological attacks and, if so, what kind.
The GEOTECHNICAL STUDY refers to the analysis of the soil and building foundations. It is done by surveying the foundations and analysing the soil layers to determine their resistance and the presence of moisture in the soil.
TOPOGRAPHIC SURVEY is necessary to analyse the position of the house on the ground and how rainwater drains at ground level. Often around the old houses the land has risen in time and the waters flow wrong, towards the house, being one of the main factors of degradation.
All information collected is analysed in terms of structural stability (geometric composition – survey, strength of materials and soil, etc.) and establishes a complete diagnosis of the building as well as recommendations and priorities for intervention.
Another tour of workshops for children held at the manors looked after by Pro Patrimonio – Perticari- Davila Manor in Izvoru village, Neamțu Manor in Olari village and Golescu villa in Câmpulung – has come to an end. This second tour was coordinated by our generous Andreea Machidon supported by dedicated and special volunteers. For the very first time, we would like to thank one of the mothers, Daniela Marchidan, who has worked with patience and care with the children as well as with her 10-year old son. They have helped not only in the organization, but also in the process of creating objects. We also give our warm thanks to the extremely creative and fun Isabella Madauna, architecture student.
The theme of this tour around the manors was getting close to and understanding nature and natural elements by means of observation and reinterpreted drawing. The teams of children from the three manors managed to paint botanical elements on lunch-box type pouches suitable for gatehring plants, leaves or nuts and which will soon be on sale. They also designed their own pencil-case type minipouches for school which they personalized using the stamp technique after having made their ow FIMO stamps.
They managed to create an adorable series of colourful agendas using a simple method of book binding. These are to be their private agendas with modules they can change by themselves once they run out of clean pages. A very useful instrument for their future creative development is the notion of font that they found out about and which they exercised on their new agendas. The work was done outside in Neamțu Manor and Golescu Villa, the children fully enjoying nature, while at Izvoru the workshop took place inside the canteen rebuilt during the former workshops.
Tour of the Manors is the second from the series this year and is part of a more ample Pro Patrimonio Foundation project, Education for Heritage undergo this year under the umbrella of the European Year of Cultural Heritage #EuropeForCulture, #EYCH2018
The first practical workshop of the series dedicated to the rejuvenation of the Neamţu Manor in Olari village (held between 4 and 9 July 2017) focused on the restoration of the Roman mosaic flooring and contributed to the preservation of the degraded mansion. At the manor’s upper-level, the loggia, the lobby and the bathroom have Roman mosaic flooring made of colored marble pieces with elegant drawings.
For a week, five English and two French volunteers coordinated by arch. Raluca Munteanu (Pro Patrimonio) and restoration specialist Liviu Epuraş (National University of Arts Bucharest), carried out repairs and conservation works: floor void filling, restoring ceramic bathroom walls, reproduction of mosaic patterns (dolphins and lions) on mobile panels.
Meanwhile, they also explored the cultural landscape of the area: the Brâncoveni Monastery and the Avincis vineyard of Drăgășani.
Alex Iacob came from Craiova and documented throughout the volunteers’ work:
We thank LEROY MERLIN România for their support with the materials and tools that are essential to such an action!
