Proceedings e report - Firenze University Press

ROMANIAN ARCHITECTURAL WOODEN CULTURAL HERITAGE – THE PRESENT STATUS - A SURVEY
- Harnicesti felling of timber: winter 1678-79
In the last two years, in Romania some studies are also started as a cooperation betwen ICAS - Forest
Research and Management Institute, Research Station for Norway Spruce Silviculture Suceava (Ionel
Popa and Cristian Sidor – dendrochronology, Olivier BOURIAUD – dendroclimatology) and TDL -
The Szekler Museum of Ciuc,
Transylvanian Dendrochronological Laboratory (Botár István). ICAS has expertize in Lintab and
Lignovision systems, dendrochronology and wood dating , wood anatomy laboratory and wood
identification, and TDL in dendrochronology, techniques to measure tree rings, dendroarcheology –
wood dating. They started two projects: Archaeology – medieval settlement history and material
culture (dendrochronology – historical roof constructions) and Medieval ecclesiastical architecture.
They also have good conections with Art, Arcaheological and History Museums. Next year, the first
results of the projects will be published.
3. Conclusions
Despite the very precious Romanian architectural wooden cultural heritage – especially churches and
peasant houses -, due to the financial difficulties, until now the main activity for its preservation was
an empirical one: repairs and reconstruction of damaged items. Only in the last years we could speak
about a scientific approach of the conservation – preservation problems, mainly through the
specialized laboratories belonging to Village Museum in Bucharest and Astra Museum in Sibiu. Also
the dendrochronolgy activity effectively started in our country in the last few years. Next year, we
hope to have finalized the first projects in the field and to make public the results acquired.
References
1. Stoica, G. (1983): “Romanian Peasant Houses and Households”, Wayne State University Press,
Detroit.
2. Ungureanu, N. (1974): “Zur praehistorisch-geographischen Entwicklung der rumaenischen
Volkskultur”, in “Das Holz in der rumaenischen Volkskunst”, Muenchen.
3. Focsa, G. (1971): „The Bucharest Village Museum“, in „Museum of etnographic-sociological
Nature in Romania“, Sibiu.
4. Godea, I. (1996): “Biserici de lemn din Romania (nord-vestul Transilvaniei)”, Editura Meridiane,
Bucuresti – in Romanian.
5. Babos, A (2004): “ Tracing a Sacred Building Tradition. Wooden Churches, Carpenters and
Founders in Maramures until the Turn of the 18th Century.”, PhD dissertation, Lund University
Library, Sweden.
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