The preparation meeting 7-9 May in Salaj and Maramures county, Romania

Participants

France
    Francois Calame, adviser in ethnology, DRAC de Haute-Normandie
    Daniel Coudert, carpenter, Compagnon charpentiers du Devoir
    Thierry Casanova, coordinator for the building sector, GRETA

Sweden
    Göran Andersson, project manager, Timmerdraget
    Henrik Larsson, project manager, county administration of Gävleborg
    Peter Sjömar, techn. dr., school of building crafts, Mariestad

At the workshop of Mr Vassile Pop in Ocna Sugatag.

Conclusions

The churches in Baica and Rajâs in Salaj County will be good objects and places for the workshop. The churches are situated only a few kilometres from each other, about 25 km from the city of Zalau, the "capitol city" of the county.

In Baica the actions are not very complicated. Mostly it is a question of repairing the roof construction and covering the church with new shingles, "chindrilas".

In Rajâs the restoration will be much more complex and difficult. There are damages caused by rot fungus in some parts of the logs in the bottom. There is also damages caused by insects higher up in the construction in those logs that are of beech. Then there are damages caused by water since the roof has not protected the church from the rain. Since last autumn there is a temporary cover of asphalt paper on the roof. There are also older reparations and rebuilding. When the new church in the village was built there was taken some parts from the old church, for example the roof over the "naos" (see the plan over the church made by Niels Auer). An interesting thing is that all the lifting of the construction that is needed for the restoration will be executed by man power (no jacks or other mechanic tools).

The contracts for the job on the two churches will be signed within two weeks. A programme for the protecting of the paintings inside the church will be calculated within a couple of weeks.

Ana Bârca has planned that the workshop will take place 1-15 July. The accommodations will be solved in the two villages. There will be lectures about the church and vernacular architecture in the region. There will also be organised for local transports.

We all thank Ana Bârca for a perfect and interesting programme and discussion during the three days.

Soon you can read more about the details concerning this workshop on these pages in Ana Bârcas report from this meeting. Soon you also can read about techn. dr. Peter Sjömar´s view on what moments in the church and the wooden construction that would be interesting to focus in this context. What can be focused in these churches in particular, but also within the context of different wooden constructions and methods.

The entrance-door to the restored church in Dobrin.

Day by day report

Sunday 6 May
Just to check alternative routes to the northern parts of Romania the Swedish participants took a flight to Budapest and then a car to Zalau in the Salaj district. The travel was about 400 km and took about 5 hours effective driving.

The "capitol city" of Salaj is Zalau. From the 1960-ies almost all parts of the town have been rebuilt, in an accelerating way during the reform programme during the 1980-ies. Most of the old buildings have been replaced with new residential blocks.

Monday 7 May
We started towards Baica and Racâs. On the way we looked at the wooden church in Cinumarna. Then we looked at the church of Poarta Salajuli (The Port of Salaj), also a church of log-timber construction. The next stop was at the villages of Rajâs and Baica. The vernacular architecture of the two villages is not at all as dominated by the different wooden materials as the villages of Maramures. We had lunch and were nicely hosted in Baica village.

Lunch in the yard of the Hotico family, our hosts in Ieud.

After that we went to the small church in Balan with the same construction of logs as the other churches but the facades was plastered with clay and lime. The last visit for the day was the newly restored church and bell tower in the small village of Dobrin. We had dinner and slept in the village of Ocna Sugatag in Maramures, not far away from the village of Desesti.

Tuesday 8 May
In the morning we visited the workshop of Mr Vasili Pop, who organised our accommodation in the village. Vasili Pop is a carpenter and church restorer. We watched an ongoing restoration where one church was moved to the workshop place, the restoration was to be executed, and then the church will be moved back to its original site again.

After that we went down along the Mara valley to Sighet and then westwards to the village of Sapinta where we visited "The Happy Graveyard". Then we studied a new church under construction in the village. It was a very large church with vaults of brick in the bottom and a very heavy wooden construction above.

Then we drove eastwards up through the Iza valley to the village of Ieud. We visited the new church under construction by Mr Hotico and his men in the small village above Ieud in the Ieud valley. We had lunch in Mr Hoticos garden. In the afternoon we walked through the village at looked at the two wooden churches that is on UNESCO´s World Heritage List. In the evening we sat in the garden of the Chindris family, that is a close friend of Ana Bârca. Later in the evening we had supper in Mr Hoticos garden.

A new wooden church in the Maramures landscape, not far away from village of Ieud.

Wednesday 9 May
Together with Mr Hotico we walked through another part of the village in the morning. Almost every building are built of wood, a few are plastered on the outside. Many houses are rather old but surprisingly many are pretty new (not more than 20 years). We visited Mr Hoticos workshop where we could see the production of planks for restoration and the handmade production of wooden shingles, "chindrilas", for roofs and walls. Mr Hotico has 14 employees.

Production of wooden shingles, "chindrilas", at the workshop of Mr Gavrila Hotico in Ieud.

We also visited two blacksmiths close to the river in Ieud. After that we sat down in Mr Chindris garden again for the last discussions about the first workshop. Ana Bârca had made a perfect programme for us and, according to the planning of the workshop, the Romanian suggestions were very close to the proposed project plan for the workshops. As we were in Ieud, we pointed out that it would be of great value for the participating countries if there could be a programme for visiting this most interesting village.

Departure in the afternoon.

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