TN3 2011 - tna

The Initiation of Emergency Listing Procedures for the “Bucharest Fortress”

Abstract

At approximately 10 km from the city centre, Bucharest is surrounded by the fortification ring built in the last two decades of the 19th century as a main component of the country’s defensive system, initiated and supported by Prince Carol I of HOHENZOLLERN. The Bucharest fortifications, designed by the Belgian general Henri Alexis BRIALMONT, have a length of 72 km, 18 forts and 18 intermediary batteries, a circular path and encompass, at approx. 100 m behind the fortified line, a railway doubled by a road, the city’s current ring road.The mullti-criteria analysis on the fortified ensemble, based only on primary data, unequivocally demonstrates the exceptional artistic, architectural, urban, memorial-symbolic and uniqueness qualities of Bucharest’s fortification ring. This is the main reason cited by the National Office of Historical Monuments for starting the procedures for the listing of this ensemble as a historic building. Keywords: Prince Carol I, BRIALMONT, fortification, fort, battery, Bucharest, Chitila, Mogoşoaia, Otopeni, Tunari, Ştefăneşti, Afumaţi, Pantelimon, Cernica, Căţelu, Leordeni, Popeşti, Berceni, Jilava, Broscărie, Măgurele, Bragadiru, Domneşti, Chiajna

Radu LUPESCU

Rehabilitation History of Hunedoara Castle

Abstract

Hunedoara Castle is one of the masterpieces of the European mediaeval castle architecture. It was burnt down in 1854,and after that it entered a long-lasting process of rehabilitation. This process started as early as 1868 in a period when the Hungarian historic building conservation was at its very beginning. At the beginning Ferenc SCHULCZ and Imre STEINDL were in charge of the conservation of the castle, both pupils of the famous Viennese professor Friedrich SCHMIDT. They worked in the spirit of the purist style, tying not only to conserve the castle, but to transform it into a Neo-Gothic building suitable for a hunting residence for the kings of Hungary. Since the HABSBURG rulers never intended to visit the castle this plan was given up, and the reconstruction was not completed. After some minor interventions it was continued by István MÖLLER at the beginning of the 20th century. He dealt especially with the wrong reconstructions of his predecessors, and because of the First World War he could not accomplish his work. After the war the Romanian authorities sustained merely the maintenance of the building, and only in the 1950s and 1960s carried out an intensive rehabilitation. The castle’s present-day aspect is basically the result of this major work. A rehabilitation process started in 1997, which is still continuing in the present days, some of its aspects being highly questionable. Keywords: Hunedoara Castle, conservation, historic building conservation

Liliana ROŞIU

Arad Fortress

Abstract

Of the multiple categories of fortifications, the bastioned fortresses represent for the contemporary city offers with multiple possibilities, but accompanied by complex issues. The evolution of town-fortress relationships headed either towards the inclusion of the former in the modern city, through the demolition of inconvenient walls and the preservation of some of its vestiges, or towards the isolation of the fortification preserved outside the city centre and the diminution of their functional relationship. This is also the case of the Arad Fortress, which at the moment poses specific problems, both of functional solutions and of urban integration. After the recent decision to abandon its military function, the fortress, preserved in its entirety, offers the contemporary city the chance of its revitalization as a polarizing landmark, in a relationship with the historical area. Keywords: bastioned fortification, urban evolution, historical area, decommissioning, rehabilitation, refunctionalization

EKE Zsuzsanna

The History of the Károlyi Manor House in Ardud, in the Light of Recent Researches

Abstract

The article presents the results obtained so far through the researches on the Károlyi Manor House ruins in Ardud, Satu Mare County (Romania). The historical building – according to the researches conducted so far – had three major construction phases: its construction, initiated by the DRÁGFFY family in the 15th and 16th centuries; its transformation into a manor house under the supervision of Count Sándor KÁROLYI (18th century), and a 19th century partial conservation, implemented according to the spirit of the time, due to the connected cult of the Hungarian poet Sándor PETŐFI. For a proper conservation and enhancement of the manor house, once again in ruins after almost a century, the specialists conducted several types of researches during the year 2010, which have documented the character of the interventions suffered by the building. Keywords: castle, manor house, DRÁGFFY family, KÁROLYI family, building history, archival research, art history research, archaeological research

Daniela MARCU ISTRATE

Archaeological Contributions to the Study of the Ardud Manor House

Abstract

The archaeological study of the historic building in Ardud began in the context of a conservation plan, at the initiative of the general designer, with a focus on the southern ruins, the towers and the buildings between them. Overall, 14 research units were established, 11 sections and 3 surfaces, through which 108 built structures, 32 compounds and a large quantity of archaeological materials were identified. Because research has not been completed in certain areas, its extension was requested in order to better explain the succession of built structures and, implicitly, the rooms that functioned here at a given time. Keywords: Ardud, archaeological research, main research units, sections, surfaces, archaeological complexes, stratigraphy, archaeological material, dating

BUDA Zsuzsanna

Interventions on the Károlyi Manor House in Ardud

Abstract

The Károlyi Manor House in Ardud (Romania) is one of the sites that benefit from the EU Project called Tour of Mediaeval Market-towns in North Transylvania (Circuitul târgurilor medievale din Transilvania de Nord). The article presents the conservation plan of the manor house, which underwent certain changes as a result of the researches carried out recently. Unfortunately, the plans prepared for the tender were missing the necessary researches as most of the constructions were inaccessible. The researches on the building and the archaeological excavations were carried out simultaneously with the implementation, and at the same time the archival research also went on. In the light of the obtained results, three adaptations of the original plan were made: the first one was based on the manor house’s theoretical reconstruction; in the second one the excavated ruins came into the limelight, while the third one was a result of compromise between the architect’s proposal and the owner’s demands. Keywords: manor house, ruins, research, plan, theoretical reconstruction, implementation, protective roof

MEZŐS Tamás

Conservation and Presentation of Roman Ruin Fragments

Abstract

One of the most complex and possibly most complicated tasks of historic building conservation is presenting in an authentic manner ruins that either were revealed by archaeological methods or have been present in their environment for centuries. Regardless of the manner they came into focus, ruins are likely to preserve the marks of several construction periods. These seemingly unconnected wall fragments need to be presented in such a way as to offer a view that amateur visitors can understand and interpret. Designers of ruin conservations that started in the mid-20th century thought that the larger public would find it intellectually compelling to imagine the whole mass of the building outlined in its layout. By the end of the century, this hypothesis proved untenable. The large public favours archaeological parks that can offer a complex experience by presenting the living space of the past culture. Keywords: Roman Period, protection of historic ruins, interpretive presentation