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Blog Post
Save Cula Crasnaru from Groserea $9,572
Funds Sources: Facebook and Instagram Campaign
Project Name: Save Cula Crasnaru from Groserea
Link: Facebook Fundraiser, Website
Community Partner: Asociatia Monumentum (Profile | Website )
Starting Date: July, 2023
Financing: Financed
Project Status: In Development
Total Project Budget:
Financed by RUF: $9,572
Short Description:
Ambulance for monuments - Oltenia Vest has undertaken a mission to rescue one of the most valuable assets in Oltenia, which is currently in an advanced state of degradation and requires urgent intervention before it is lost forever.
Details:
Cula Crasnaru was built in the 18th century and is exceptional as it retains its original roof, a rare feature among similar structures. Unfortunately, the property was received in a deplorable state a few years ago and is currently entangled in legal disputes. However, the owner is willing to facilitate accommodations for volunteers in the village.
This emergency intervention represents Cula Crasnaru's last chance to save the building.
The proposed works will commence with the restoration of the roof's oak elements, followed by installing a 3-layer spruce cladding to shield the building from weather-related damage. Before proceeding with the roof work, efforts will be made to repair the degraded brick coronation and restore the collapsed arches. Cracks and fractures that have appeared will be addressed by stitching them with strips, injecting special non-invasive mortars, and reinforcing them with helicoidal rods at specific points. Additionally, the project will focus on adding the ceiling beams to their final positions, completing the renovation process.
These measures are crucial to preserving and protecting this historically significant building in Oltenia.by Asociatia Monumentumon August 07, 2023 1 min read -
Blog Post
Save Cula Crasnaru from Groserea, Feb 2023
Project Name: Save Cula Crasnaru from Groserea
Link: Facebook Fundraiser, Website
Community Partner: Asociatia Monumentum (Profile | Website )
Starting Date: February 2023
Financing: TBD
Project Status: In progress
Total Project Budget: $45,580
Financed by RUF: $1,000
Donate to the project
Short Description
Ambulance for monuments - Oltenia Vest has set out to save one of the most valuable assets in Oltenia, which is currently in an advanced state of degradation and needs urgent intervention before losing it for good.
Details
It was built in the 18th century and is special because it is among the only ones that retain the original roof. The building is private property received in a deplorable state a few years ago and is currently in litigation. Still, the owner will facilitate obtaining accommodation for volunteers in the village. For Cula Crăsnaru, this emergency intervention is her last chance.
The works we are proposing follow the completion of the oak elements of the roof and the installation of 3-layer spruce cladding to protect the building from the weather; before this work, we will reside the degraded brick coronation and restore the collapsed arches. Where cracks/fractures have appeared, these will be sewn into strips, injected with special non-invasive mortars, and reinforced by mounting points of helicoidal rods. Other works will target adding the ceiling beams to the final level.
by Asociatia Monumentumon February 03, 2023 1 min read -
Blog Post
Tigla Doneaza Istorie Salveaza, $18,750
Funds Sources: Education Campaign
Project Name: Tigla doneaza Istorie salveaza
Link: Facebook Fundraiser
Community Partner: Asociatia Monumentum (Profile | Website )
Starting Date: April 2022
Financing: FINANCED
Project Status: Completed
Total Project Budget: $23,387
Requested from RUF: $18,750
Financed by RUF: $18,750
RUF matching fund: $1,000
Project in Numbers:
- 1000 donors involved in the fundraising campaign in partnership with RUF
- 170 volunteers signed up for the continuation of the church safety work in 2023
- 80 volunteers engaged over 1 month
- 4 families from the village involved during the works
- 1 volunteer from the village, student at the Art High School of Bistrita, restoration section, involved during the works
- 15 people from the community participated at the event marking the completion of the project
Short Description:The project aims to preserve the roof of fortified Chmch's ensemble in Vermes, located on the site of a 3000-year-old history.
Details
The intervention will save from collapse the oldest and most fragile part of the historical monument, in which were discovered frescoes and paintings made on the plaster of the walls in the 14th and
15th centuries.
The Evangelical church in Vermes, today the Orthodox Church "St. Arch. Mihail and Gavriil" is one of the most representative of the fortified churches built by the Sa.xons in the land of Nosterland, in Northern Transylvania. The current form was built in the 15th century, together with the bell tower and the perimeter defense wall. The church is in severe disrepair and needs urgent work to save it from ruin.
We put 3300 tiles on sale at the symbolic price of €5/tile; this includes purchasing the 3300 old tiles, the cost of wood, restoration, accommodation, and meals for the volunteers. Donators' names will forever remain linked to the saving of this church because they will be inscribed on one of the new tiles we will produce at the traditional tile factory in Apo and placed on the church's roof in Verrue. The PETRUS ITAL US TRUST will carry out the emergency intervention through the project AMBULANCE FOR MONUMENTS BISTRITA-NAs.AUD and in partnership with the RO1\1ANIAN UNITED FUND and the MONUMENTUM Association.by Asociatia Monumentumon September 15, 2022 2 min read -
Blog Post
We Make a Future Home $9,944
Funds Sources: Heritage Campaign
Project Name: We Make a Future Home
Link: Facebook Fundraiser
Community Partner: Noi Orizonturi (Profile | Website )
Starting Date: March 2021
Financing: FUNDED
Project Status: In Development
Total Project Budget: $100,000 (incl. non-RUF sources)
Short Description:
The New Horizons Foundation invites you to contribute to an educational program through which children and young people can learn that what they have in their village has immense value and that it can be used in the context of sustainable tourism (ecotourism) enjoying global growth again Romania is one of the few countries that still has traditional landscapes inhabited
Details
The first blended learning program in Romania (although we did not see anything like this one internationally) prepares youth for serving the economic revival of their communities through heritage-related entrepreneurship. 500 Youth/year educated to care for and capitalize, in sustainable ways, the ecological and cultural assets of their communities. 50 communities – which will benefit from the community-based learning projects implemented by youth, but will also learn to trust more young people, and empower them 1.000 tourists – who will have the opportunity to learn about the treasures of these communities directly from youth living there and why not, thinking of investing in these communities.
According to Eurostat, the number of young Romanians (aged between 15 and 29) has fallen dramatically, down 28 percent from 4.86 million in 2008 to 3.52 million in 2016. This situation is even more dramatic in the Romanian countryside. The definitive rural exodus towards France, Italy, Spain has deprived the villages of an important segment of their population, the most active, able to work. (Török, 2014).
The decline of the Romanian population in rural areas is a problem that can be solved if the economic development of these regions is pursued, and if we create an environment appealing enough for young people, to make them stay at home, feel proud of their roots, and willing to invest in their communities.
Ecotourism (https://www.eco-romania.ro/en/eco-destinations/) has become a solution for a Romanian rural revival, and young people have proved they have to and can be part of this revival. However, to capitalize on this, youth must be educated in soft skills, as well as the technical skills that make eco-tourism possible. Moreover, youth must be made aware, educated to care for their heritage (cultural and natural) and see it as intrinsically worthwhile and not just a means of production.
Currently, there are several great initiatives that offer children education related to heritage as Scoala de la Piscu, Moara de Hartie, but they are serving the locals or the ones that can afford to travel to them. New Horizons deployed in over 30 communities across 7 counties a well-grounded educational model of extracurricular clubs – called GreenIMPACT – where 15-25 children and youth are „learning by doing” about the potential of their communities and become gradually aware and proud of their heritage, acting as promoters and entrepreneurs in eco-tourism. The program reached more than 1.000 youth over the last 3 years. Still, there are many more to reach and guide and the existing programs fail to serve the ones that live in communities where there is no adult to engage them in a heritage education program.
1. Creating and developing a blended learning program - https://edulab.noi-orizonturi.ro - that offers youth (13-21 years old) an optimal learning journey for them to become aware < knowledgeable < proud < active promoters < entrepreneurs of local heritage. The program includes a mix of online learning (asynchronous courses + webinars + team tutoring) with offline practice (interviews with grandparents, visits to museums, etc), online project design, and offline project implementation. Up to now, the program covers 3 learning paths: Traditional Folk Costumes, developed with La Blouse Roumaine, traditional Local Products, developed with ADEPT Foundation and 4-H America, and Touristic Trails, developed with Centrul Schubzs and Mioritics Foundation. We aim to add 3 more learning paths, on local Architecture and Traditional crafts for house restoring in partnership with Romanian Architects Order, and Nature Heritage with Centrul Schubzs and Mioritics Foundation. The online training is built on the openlearning.org LMS - as this one(shorturl.at/pyB46), the management of the classes is done on Google Classroom, and for webinars, we are using Zoom platform.
2. Reaching out to youth, registering, guide them throughout the learning journey. They have an e-community guide, specialists as teachers for each Learning Path, and a design thinking tutor to help them plan the project. At the local level, they have an adult (any kind) to support them with exploring the community and implementing the project. We already run out the learning journey with the piloting cohort: 190 registered, 100 finished the online training, 50 summiting community-based projects. In April we will start with the second cohort and then in Autumn 2021, the third cohort.
3. Creating and developing a national online marketplace for youth projects. Some of them have digital treasure hunts like this one, in Panaci, Suceava (shorturl.at/nuxQR), others have products as souvenirs, others created virtual museums as this one, in Picior de Munte, Dimbovita (shorturl.at/bwDEV), others have services as "sezatori". This online marketplace will give youth a "stage" where they can exhibit their projects/results, giving them an extra layer of being real, being relevant, and at the same time, will offer potential tourists a platform where they can reach experiences created by youth. In this marketplace, youth all over Romania can see each other projects, can inspire others but they also can find proper digital tools to create experiences for tourists (as a digital tool for creating a local trail to explore the local heritage).
The "school" we are creating is supporting the youth born and raised in a rural area, to extend their horizons, to really understand the value of their local heritage, and imagine and practice appropriate ways to monetize them. For example, being online, we could invite Andra Clitan, a successful Romanian entrepreneur that creates and sell products that represent a "fusion between Romanian traditional costumes and different cultures from all over the world". Youth could meet her, in person, learn her vision, her experience and understand that what they consider now obsolete is extremely valuable.
The innovation of this program is that is making the most of the online with offline learning and empowers youth to not have just plans/pitches but also to put them in practice. In this way, they truly develop key skills for 21 Century: communication and social skills, sense of entrepreneurship, critical thinking, creativity but also true understanding and appreciation of their history, heritage in a way that preserve and cherish it for future generations. They will gain specific technical skills as they will act to create products and services based on the local heritage that is valuable on the market.The overarching solution is to capacitate youth from the eco touristic areas to become agents of change, understanding the value of the local assets and the importance of using them economically (to generate income for the community) in a sustainable way, proud of their roots, capable and willing to get involved in the development of their communities. We are addressing youth (13-21 years old) that live in ecotouristic areas. They have little to no access to tailored learning activities related to heritage and ecotourism (actually to no extracurricular activities). In their gymnasium schools, most of their teachers are commuting and left no time/space for extracurricular activities and in their high-schools, all of the rural teenagers are communing, depending on the bus timetable, living them with no option for staying to extracurricular activities. Still, these youth are active, interested in finding options for their future, and willing to pay extra effort, extra time to learn, develop and bring a contribution to their community. During the 3 years of regular Green IMPACT clubs and most recently, during COVID-19 pandemic, with #edulab for ecotourism, we reached to young persons that learned how to look at and appreciate the local heritage. Some of them already brought amazing benefits for their communities: Digital Treasure Hunts for tourists, to discover local heritage (shorturl.at/hyH35), Creating souvenirs based on local heritage symbols (shorturl.at/bwHOW), unveiling forgotten treasures (shorturl.at/izBX3) or convincing authorities to promote local heritage (shorturl.at/nBKN7). Throughout the project, we are aiming at bringing 500 youth/year in awareness educational program related to heritage and ecotourism and supporting 100 to develop and implement community-based projects that value the local heritage (as the ones mentioned in the above links).
Budget
To be available soon.
by Noi Orizonturion March 01, 2021 8 min read -
Blog Post
Roof over "Afresco" then in Unesco $8,083
Funds Sources: Heritage Campaign
Project Name: We Make a Future Home
Link: Facebook Fundraiser
Community Partner: Asociatia Monumentum (Profile | Website )
Starting Date: February 2021
Financing: FUNDED
Project Status: Completed
Total Project Budget: $60,000 (incl. non-RUF sources)
Short Description:
The project launched is to rebuild the roof of Michael The Archangel Church in Gurasada, Hunedoara county, to preserve the endangered mural inside.
Details
The Church “Archangel Saint Michael” from Gurasada, Hunedoara county is one of the oldest churches in Romania (XII century) and is also listed on the UNESCO tentative list in 2019. The interior painting has 2 layers, an earlier layer of painting (probably from the 13th or 14th century) is covered by an 18th-century painting. It is one of the oldest paintings in Romania but it is endangered by the leak of water through the damaged roof covering.
The purpose of the emergency intervention is to secure the roof structure and the mural painting, which is in great danger of degradation due to water infiltrations, as well as the replacement of the roof covering. The roof has deteriorated in an accelerated way lately, currently, there are water infiltrations that endanger the structure of the roof and the mural painting. It is proposed to secure the church by restoring the roof. The shingles will be replaced with one of the same type and size, and the existing degraded wood battens will be replaced with some similar ones. The type of shingles used in this church is unique in Romania is very rare and difficult to make. We have managed to find craftsmen who are still doing this type of shingles. The shingles were changed about 3 decades ago but were nailed just in one layer. This workshop will present an exemplary approach to
preserving and promoting diversity of expressing vernacular architecture in the context of so many improper interventions done lately on historical buildings in Romania.Historic buildings have experienced excessive damage, due to lack of interest, lack of know-how, and abandonment. Many of these buildings are in danger of collapse and are not accessible beyond the local community. Furthermore, the low designation and preservation of the sites leave limited opportunities for valorization, which will enhance their potential to create sustainable economies around them. Preserving anthropogenic cultural heritage reduces the need to expand the cities and promotes the balance between
the natural ecosystem and the human habitat. The intervention will facilitate the promotion and accessing of cultural heritage, producing multiple positive impacts, including to the local community's quality of life. Improvement of the attractiveness of a settlement, resulting from the protection measures and the dissemination actions, can also increase visitors' number. We will further intensify the above impact by raising awareness of the relevant stakeholders on this sustainable approach's potential benefits.The local community will be the direct beneficiary, as they still use this church for religious service and the volunteers who will enhance their hands-on training abilities.
The indirect beneficiaries are the specialists involved in the preservation of the monument, the large public that is interested in heritage and architecture, tour operators.Budget
To be available soon.
by Asociatia Monumentumon February 27, 2021 3 min read