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Tuesday 22nd December 2020
The Tramontana Network III project, run by France, Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain, has won one of the three Grand Prix for European Cultural Heritage 2020.
It pursues the undoubtedly noble goal of researching the tangible and intangible heritage of European mountain regions, but cannot outbid the two other projects that the international non-governmental organization “Europa Nostra” announced on November 10th as winners of the 2020 Grand Prix: the Polish-Spanish exhibition “Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away “(” Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away “) won the category” Education, Training and Awareness-Raising “, is for Europe’s cultural confrontation with itself itself is at least as important as the preservation of natural and cultural heritage, not just in the Alps and Pyrenees.
And the competition for the “Conservation” award was won by the restoration of the basilica Santa Maria di Collemaggio in the Italian provincial capital L’Aquila, which was completed three years ago, which reflects the “Tramontana Network III” project Equally important and contributing to the closure of a wound torn by the earthquake in Abruzzo on April 6, 2009. Research (“Research” rating), preservation, education, training and awareness-raising – old virtues on which Europe should continue to rely in the 21st century.
Almost four weeks after the 2020 Europa Nostra Grand Prix, Romania’s pro-European voter camp looked bad on the day of the political and, not least, cultural litmus test. A deeply divided population can use some encouragement from outside. That is exactly what happened on November 10th. Because the audience award of Europa Nostra went to the association “Ambulan pa pentru Monumente” of the architect Eugen Vaida.
What is currently going on in Bucharest’s political arena is not doing Romania’s image any good, but it was probably not to be expected otherwise. Even if, contrary to all forecasts, the name of the new prime minister and the nominal composition of his cabinet should already be determined by Christmas (at the time of this text’s publication there should be certainty), the question of Romania’s cultural and political self-government should continue to be answered with unease rather than confidence . The times of Andrei Ple {u or Ion Caramitru in the Ministry of Culture are far too far back to be able to draw on their credit today – it has long since been lost.
Not from architects like Eugen Vaida and associations like “Am-bulan]a pentru Monumente”, but from that Romania, which has still not managed to build a new concert hall or the Great Synagogue of Konstanza / Constanța in front of theirs To save decay.
Eugen Vaida lives in Alzen / Alțîna in the Harbachtal / Valea Hârtibaciului and is chairman of the Monumentum Association, which was founded in 2012. The resulting subsidiary association “Ambulanța pentru Monumente” has been working on cultural assets throughout Romania for four years, with the exception of Dobruja.
The club logo in black, white and red comes from Dan Perjovschi and shows in a very simple way what the self-proclaimed mission of the “ambulance for architectural monuments” consists of: in fire service operations. For Eugen Vaida, it does not matter whether he and his fellow combatants are torn between Transylvanian-Saxon fortified churches, Orthodox churches from the 14th century or old train station buildings that are no longer on a railway line. A sick patient is entitled to support. Romania, however, unites so many sick people on its territory that an ambulance alone cannot bail everyone out.
The great news that the “Ambulanța pentru Monumente” has won the Audience Award for Cultural Heritage 2020 from the NGO Europa Nostra is not only a source of satisfaction. What should Romania have done differently in order not to attract attention internationally through fire-fighting operations? The award for Eugen Vaida and team strengthens the obligation of all sub-communities in Romania.
In the summer of 2017, Eugen Vaida and a ten-person team of volunteers from the “Ambulan]a pentru Monumente” had been working on the renovation of the roof stalls and roof cladding of the Protestant church in Alzen. A team under the direction of Ernst Linzing from Malmkrog / Mălâncrav was hired for the technically demanding work on site. The lion’s share of the required funds came from the coffers of the Munich Transylvanian-Saxon Foundation and the Heimatortsgemeinschaft (HOG) of emigrated members of the Evangelical Church Community AB in Alzen.
Not to forget the handwriting of the curator Rosemarie Müller and the big heart of Hans Tekeser, managing director of Alzner Automotive GmbH.
Anyone who has ever had the roof over their own heads moved or completely re-covered by professionals knows the rule of thumb according to which a roof that protects against wind and weather makes up a third of the value of the property below. Four years before the roof of the Evangelical Church in Alzen was repaired, the completion of the renovation of three defense towers and the surrounding castle wall, which Ernst Linzing and his Malmkroger team had also carried out, was celebrated.
The next repair task is imminent. Who from the vicinity of the Evangelical Church AB in Romania (EKR) will this time be allowed to work on the Transylvanian-Saxon cultural property of the town of Alzen, first mentioned in 1291, after the collapse of the Gothic vaulted ceiling on November 4th caused great damage? Will architect Eugen Vaida and the award-winning “Ambulanța pentru Monumente” have a say?
“Parliamentary elections will follow in December, the fourth election battle within 18 months (…) Some of what we are experiencing – from soaring infection rates to confusion and fear – is due to some rulers who are waiting to find out about their own future before marriage they think of the future of the citizens ”, writes editor Cristian Lupșa in issue no. 42 (winter 2020/2021) of the independent magazine“ Decât o Revistă ”(free translation by the editor). Anyone who is currently waiting for cultural-political support from a government that can only form itself under groaning and groaning risks being forgotten in front of the all-dominating context of the Corona crisis.
That is why NGOs are booming in Romania. The eagerly awaited government cabinet will have the debt for the next four years not to let the bourgeois associations buy the guts from them. The international NGO Europa Nostra has awarded the Romanian NGO “Ambulanța pentru Monuments”.
On the evening of the award ceremony, Hermann Parzinger, Managing Director of Europa Nostra, read out a message from Romania’s President Klaus Johannis, who cites a quote attributed to the founding father of the European Union, Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (1888-1979): “ If I had to do it again, I would start with the culture. “
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