A Romanian volunteer project aiming at saving historical monuments that are decaying rapidly has a chance of winning the Public Choice Award of the European Heritage Awards/Europa Nostra Awards. The project Ambulance for Monuments is one of the 21 winners selected by an expert jury from 15 countries for remarkable heritage achievements; it has already won in the Dedicated Service category.
The Public Choice Award Winner is chosen from among this year’s winning projects; thus, the European Commission and Europa Nostra invite all those passionate about cultural heritage to consult their webpage (https://vote.europanostra.org/) and cast their vote online for their favorite award winners.
“Everyone interested is entitled to choose three projects from the list of the winners; these will get the score of 3, 2 or 1, depending on how you rank them. The project that collects the most points by September 1 will be the winner of the Public Choice Award,” explained Eugen Vaida, founder of the Monumentum Association, to ziare.com news portal. The association initiated the Ambulance for Monuments four years ago.
The volunteers of the project work side by side with local communities to salvage valuable items of architectural heritage from decay and even total destruction. At this moment, over 600 historical monuments in Romania are in need of urgent structural intervention. The Ambulance for Monuments mobilizes volunteers, craftsmen and local communities under the strict guidance of conservation and restoration experts to save many valuable parts of Romanian heritage. The project came as an answer to the passivity and idleness of the authorities and local communities with regard to the increasing decay of many monuments.
Several historical buildings – many on the verge of collapse – have been fortified these past four years by the Ambulance of Monuments. Its volunteers have helped to save a wide range of structures, including medieval churches, towers, water mills, old train stations, and fortification walls, and have been active in several counties: Kolozs (Cluj), Fehér (Alba), Brassó (Braşov), Hunedoara (Hunyad), Máramaros (Maramureş), Maros (Mureş), Szilágy (Sălaj), Temes (Timiş), Krassó-Szörény (Caraş-Severin) and Arad. Wherever a private person or state authority provides the necessary construction material, the Ambulance for Monuments carries out the most needed structural interventions. HRH the Prince of Wales is a patron of the project, and he has already published a congratulatory video message for all the volunteers of this heritage project.
Besides saving valuable buildings from destruction, the Ambulance for Monuments also aims to get local communities involved in the sustainable preservation of historical monuments that exist in their area. The project focuses on training experts through informal participatory education and using traditional techniques and materials.
The founders of the Ambulance for Monuments believe that the most important achievements have been the creation of a cooperation model and financing mechanism between beneficiaries, public authorities, NGOs and local communities and the constantly developing network of monument ambulances managed by various partner organizations.
Title image: in 2016 the southern tower of the 15th century Saxon church of Rádos (Roadeş, Radenthal) was on the verge of collapse; with the intervention of the Ambulance for Monuments a large part of the original wooden structure of the roof was saved, the damaged wall refilled with bricks.
Source: ambulantapentrumonumente/Facebook
