In 2005, the Council of Europe promoted a new instrument of European law, i.e. the Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society, known in short as the Faro Convention (according to the name of the town where it was opened for signing). The fundamental aspects on which the Faro Convention draws the attention are the extended definition of the cultural heritage as resource of heritage community and the link between the cultural heritage and the objectives of human development as well as life quality. A “relativisation” of the heritage values is currently accepted within the meaning (introduced by Alois RIEGL) that the heritage is considered to be born from its relationship with society and the communities, as they change their perception on the works of the past. A second characteristic of the changing in perception of contemporary society on its cultural heritage is the changing in the perspectives from which historic buildings are the spinal column of built heritage through their size and history are viewed. It is not about a substitution or declassification, but about a multiplication and diversification of values, due to a double change of paradigm: the role of cultural heritage is no longer the exclusive illustration of the evolution of arts and of the succession of great events or historic personalities for scholars, but rather the contribution to human development and to the increase in life quality for communities. The communities have become the beneficiaries and the main contributors in defining the cultural heritage to the detriment of the monopoly of the privileged classes and of experts. The author analyses the mechanisms of historic building protection in Romania from these perspectives, as well as their adequacy to the new concepts. Keywords: Council of Europe, Faro Convention, List of Historic Buildings in Romania (LMI), listing methodology, decentralisation-regionalisation

The topic of my thesis written within the framework of the Postgraduate Course in Historic Building Conservation organised by the Transylvania Trust Foundation and the Babeş-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca was the Aita Mare Communal Hall, in a village situated in the Baraolt Region, a historical region of Transylvania called in Hungarian Erdővidék. The thesis presented the evolution history of the building and of its environment; I included a detailed description of the present situation, and following an inventory of the identified values and formulated demands, I elaborated three intervention suggestions of different levels: preservation, complete conservation and enlargement. The present study is a summary of my thesis. Keywords: conservation, Communal Hall, multifunctionality, changes in form and function, eclecticism, neoclassical elements, symmetry, value inventory, preventive historic building conservation, preservation, enlargement

The area of roof structure research is sporadically present in Europe, without however any large comparative studies. Some fields are treated in parallel by several European research centres, while other are completely ignored, and multidisciplinary studies in their real meaning are completely absent. Most of the studies performed at European level approach the roof structures from the perspective of the art historian or of the “building archaeologist”, of the technologist or of the wooden scientist. In Romania, the study of roof structures is almost completely overlooked by the specialists in the field of the built heritage, and it strictly limits itself to the minimum necessary representation and only at the level of cross section. The people who still deal with this field are mainly structure building engineers. Archaeologists also have gained a more and more important role as dendrochronological research emerged and spread.

The Romanesque roof structures represent a very small part of the universal heritage, but at the same time an invaluable part from the point of view of the heritage values they carry. Because of their age and the influence of external factors, these roof structures have a heightened sensitivity regarding their durability. This paper presents several aspects regarding the investigation of the continental Romanesque roof structures identified in the Lutheran churches in Vurpăr and Toarcla. The purpose of the interventions is to draw the specialists’ attention to these heritage values. Keywords: Vurpăr Lutheran church, Toarcla Lutheran church, Romanesque roof structure, joints

The article presents certain milestones in the construction and landscaping history of the park belonging to the Szentkereszthy Manor House in Arcuş (Covasna County), a 19th century arboretum, listed as such on the 2004 and 2010 List of Historic Buildings, and also – largely due to its continuous use – one of the best-preserved historic residential parks in Transylvania. The article also describes the main built and landscaping elements of the ensemble, the relationships between them, as well as those with the settlement and surrounding landscape, as they were observed by the author in the summer of 2009, in an attempt to outline a short summary of the current situation of the landscape elements. Keywords: historical garden, rural residence, geometrical style, landscaped style, 19th century

The research and the conservation of the mural paintings in the Calvinist Church in Mugeni were carried out within the framework of the church’s comprehensive conservation. The research was completed as part of the church conservation plan in 2010, and the work itself was accomplished in 2012.