Books by Teodor O Gheorghiu
Globe Edit, 2017
The book can be purchased on:
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructio... more The book can be purchased on:
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructions-in-the-romanian-city-centers/isbn/978-3-330-80788-4
Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
Cartea poate fi comandată de la Muzeul Brăilei, Editura Istros/ The book can be ordered from the ... more Cartea poate fi comandată de la Muzeul Brăilei, Editura Istros/ The book can be ordered from the Museum of Brăila, Istros Publishing House
http://www.muzeulbrailei.ro/images/editura_istros/ian%202018/oferta%20vanzare%20ian%202018.pdf
Această cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanisticceastă cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanistică şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor. ă şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor.
Cartea este pusă la dispoziție prin amabilitatea domnului doctor arhitect Arpad Zachi/ The book i... more Cartea este pusă la dispoziție prin amabilitatea domnului doctor arhitect Arpad Zachi/ The book is available due to the amiability of PhD architect Arpad Zachi.
Istoriografia oraşului medieval din Ţările Române debutează în perioada interbelică şi se consolidează pe măsură ce parcurge etape noi, acumulează noi informaţii şi le prelu-crează în maniere din ce în ce mai elaborate. Contribuţia specialiştilor arhitecţi şi urba-nişti a apărut mai târziu şi trebuia să dinamizeze procesul, prin câteva procedee specifice. Ne referim la coroborarea întregii game de date, la introducerea studiului planimetric (topografic) şi la propunerea de noi metode de investigaţie, mai ales în cazul claselor de aşezări medievale care nu se supun unor reguli comune de geneză, evoluţie şi de tipolo-gie morfo-structurală. Or, oraşele româneşti extracarpatice conţin toate aceste caracte-ristici şi sunt dintre cele care au nevoie de «tratamente metodologice» speciale. Historical studies on medieval towns in the Romanian Principalities appeared in the inter-war period and gradually gathered strength and reached higher levels as new information was accumulated and more elaborated research methods were put into place. The architects and urban historians did only comparatively late bring their contribution to the researches in this field and was supposed to stimulate new approach by the specific professional study procedures. When speaking about a new approach we refer to a necessary corroboration of data from different fields with the study of the evolution of urban plans (topographic information). This kind of research is interesting in itself from the theoretical point of view, but it also opens a door towards further investigation, especially for medieval settlements which did not follow the customary evolutionary process as regard to their genesis, development and morphological and structural typology. And the Romanian towns from the East and South of the Carpathian Mountains did not follow the customary evolution and thus need specific study methodologies.
Globe Edit, 2017
The book can be purchased on:
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destruct... more The book can be purchased on:
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructions-in-the-romanian-city-centers/isbn/978-3-330-80788-4
Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars4, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
Papers by Teodor O Gheorghiu
Studies in History and Theory of Architecture, 2021
De Gruyter eBooks, Dec 19, 2022
In der Zeit vor dem 18. Jahrhundert entwickelten sich die Siedlungen des Banats so wie fast übera... more In der Zeit vor dem 18. Jahrhundert entwickelten sich die Siedlungen des Banats so wie fast überall: spontan und organisch, bestimmt durch die jeweilige Umwelt und entspre chend den kulturellen Gepflogenheiten der Bevölkerung. Die Zugehörigkeit des Banats zum Habsburger Reich seit Anfang des 18. Jahrhunderts änderte daran alles. Wien setzte auf Besiedlung und Raumplanung und organisierte die Lebensräume nach neuen Prinzipien. Das bestehende Siedlungsnetz erhielt eine veränderte Struktur. Manche der Ortschaften wurden neu geplant, andere aufgegeben. So entstanden durchkonstruierte Siedlungsräume, die gelegentlich den geografischen Gegebenheiten und den kulturel len Charakteristika der Bevölkerung widersprachen. Aus der Perspektive der Verwaltung galt es, die Niederlassung der Kolonisten sowie die Anlage neuer Siedlungen mit der Restrukturierung älterer Ortschaften zu verbin den. Dabei lassen sich die folgenden Vorgehensweisen beobachten: das Zusammenfü gen von Siedlungen (der meist rumänischsprechenden Bewohner) zu einer einzigen Ortschaft auf der Grundlage eines geometrischen Modells; die "Neuanordnung" älterer, kleiner Siedlungen entsprechend regulären Mustern; der Wiederaufbau einzelner Sied lungen auf den alten Fluren, was zu unregelmäßigen Strukturen führte; die Gründung von neuen Siedlungen im Rahmen eines geometrischen Plans (meistens rechteckig). Tatsächlich gab es auch zahlreiche Fälle, in denen die Prinzipien miteinander ver mischt wurden.1 Die erste Phase der Besiedlung des Banats wird auf die Jahre 1718-1740 datiert. Als Militärgouverneur war Feldmarschall Claudius Florimond de Mercy bis 1733 für die Region verantwortlich. Er teilte sich seine Zeit auf zwischen der Administration des Gebiets und seinen militärischen Verpflichtungen bei Feldzügen. Die erste ausführliche Karte der Region, die 1728 in Wien veröffentlicht wurde, zeigt, dass Mercys Aufgabe darin bestand, vorhandene Dörfer zu konsolidieren und neue zu errichten. Francesco Griselini, der die Errungenschaften dieser Zeit würdigte,2 berichtet von schwäbischen, italienischen und spanischen Siedlern und von den neuen Dörfern Sânpetru (1724),
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Books by Teodor O Gheorghiu
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructions-in-the-romanian-city-centers/isbn/978-3-330-80788-4
Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
http://www.muzeulbrailei.ro/images/editura_istros/ian%202018/oferta%20vanzare%20ian%202018.pdf
Această cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanisticceastă cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanistică şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor. ă şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor.
Istoriografia oraşului medieval din Ţările Române debutează în perioada interbelică şi se consolidează pe măsură ce parcurge etape noi, acumulează noi informaţii şi le prelu-crează în maniere din ce în ce mai elaborate. Contribuţia specialiştilor arhitecţi şi urba-nişti a apărut mai târziu şi trebuia să dinamizeze procesul, prin câteva procedee specifice. Ne referim la coroborarea întregii game de date, la introducerea studiului planimetric (topografic) şi la propunerea de noi metode de investigaţie, mai ales în cazul claselor de aşezări medievale care nu se supun unor reguli comune de geneză, evoluţie şi de tipolo-gie morfo-structurală. Or, oraşele româneşti extracarpatice conţin toate aceste caracte-ristici şi sunt dintre cele care au nevoie de «tratamente metodologice» speciale. Historical studies on medieval towns in the Romanian Principalities appeared in the inter-war period and gradually gathered strength and reached higher levels as new information was accumulated and more elaborated research methods were put into place. The architects and urban historians did only comparatively late bring their contribution to the researches in this field and was supposed to stimulate new approach by the specific professional study procedures. When speaking about a new approach we refer to a necessary corroboration of data from different fields with the study of the evolution of urban plans (topographic information). This kind of research is interesting in itself from the theoretical point of view, but it also opens a door towards further investigation, especially for medieval settlements which did not follow the customary evolutionary process as regard to their genesis, development and morphological and structural typology. And the Romanian towns from the East and South of the Carpathian Mountains did not follow the customary evolution and thus need specific study methodologies.
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructions-in-the-romanian-city-centers/isbn/978-3-330-80788-4
Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars4, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
Papers by Teodor O Gheorghiu
https://www.morebooks.de/store/gb/book/continuities-and-destructions-in-the-romanian-city-centers/isbn/978-3-330-80788-4
Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
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Această cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanisticceastă cercetare scoate în evidenţă, într-o manieră corelată, tipologia proceselor urbanistice anterioare perioadei comuniste (extinderi teritoriale, densificări, modernizări, plombări etc., prin care s-au alcătuit şi consolidat structurile urbanistice istorice), intenţiile sistematizatiare din perioada interbelică, intervenţiile distructive din perioada comunistă (demolări, reconformări urbanistice, inserţii, reconstrucţii etc. prin care acele centre îşi pierd o parte din caracteristici) şi, în fine, ce se petrece în mediul românesc în ultimele decenii, când se continuă să se diminueze substanţa istorică şi tradiţională a lor. Soluţiile de reglementare urbanistică şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor. ă şi de educare a orăşenilor în spiritul acestor valori rămân singurele pârghii prin care se poate opera acum, salvându-se ce este de salvat din centrele istorice ale oraşelor româneşti extracarpatice şi sperându-se că acestea vor fi reabilitate şi articulate dezvoltărilor urbane actuale şi de viitor.
Istoriografia oraşului medieval din Ţările Române debutează în perioada interbelică şi se consolidează pe măsură ce parcurge etape noi, acumulează noi informaţii şi le prelu-crează în maniere din ce în ce mai elaborate. Contribuţia specialiştilor arhitecţi şi urba-nişti a apărut mai târziu şi trebuia să dinamizeze procesul, prin câteva procedee specifice. Ne referim la coroborarea întregii game de date, la introducerea studiului planimetric (topografic) şi la propunerea de noi metode de investigaţie, mai ales în cazul claselor de aşezări medievale care nu se supun unor reguli comune de geneză, evoluţie şi de tipolo-gie morfo-structurală. Or, oraşele româneşti extracarpatice conţin toate aceste caracte-ristici şi sunt dintre cele care au nevoie de «tratamente metodologice» speciale. Historical studies on medieval towns in the Romanian Principalities appeared in the inter-war period and gradually gathered strength and reached higher levels as new information was accumulated and more elaborated research methods were put into place. The architects and urban historians did only comparatively late bring their contribution to the researches in this field and was supposed to stimulate new approach by the specific professional study procedures. When speaking about a new approach we refer to a necessary corroboration of data from different fields with the study of the evolution of urban plans (topographic information). This kind of research is interesting in itself from the theoretical point of view, but it also opens a door towards further investigation, especially for medieval settlements which did not follow the customary evolutionary process as regard to their genesis, development and morphological and structural typology. And the Romanian towns from the East and South of the Carpathian Mountains did not follow the customary evolution and thus need specific study methodologies.
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Romania is among the European countries which have applied contradictory and discontinuous, frequently radical policies in the urban areas within the last two centuries. I hereby refer to the intervention programs in the historical centers of the cities or across the entire urban area. Even if some were consonant and synchronous with the mainland urban policies, the ones which have left serious traces in the urban or rural Romanian texture were dissonant compared to the contemporary European or even the global ones. “Repeated destructions and reconstructions” would be the concept that defines this status quo as far as the Romanian cities in general and the ones in Moldavia and Wallachia in particular are concerned. The causes are multiple and they deserve to be discussed briefly below, with particular reference to the cities outside the Carpathians area.
First of all, the Romanian territories outside the Carpathians were urbanized in the late Middle Ages, being among the last to create their network of towns. In the 13th - 15th centuries (since one can speak of towns - even if in early forms- in Moldavia and Wallachia) there had been towns in the rest of Europe (West, Central and Southwest) for at least 3-4 centuries (I do not count the ancient towns) and they proceeded towards new phases of urban development.
Second of all, the historical journey of the Romanian cities is discontinuous, rapid and substantial growth alternating with damages that endangered the very existence of some cities as a whole. Mid of the 18th century - beginning of the 19th century is one of these periods, dramatic for almost the entire urban network in the area. Back then, the attacks and destructions caused by various troops which were confronting within the Romanian territory (Russian, Ottoman and Austrian) combined with earthquakes, fires or pestilence which ravaged, drastically diminishing the habitat.
Third of all, the particular history of the cities outside the Carpathians generated atypical morphological structures in relation to the contemporary European ones: reduced urban densities, building materials and perishable technologies, poverty, diminished economic activities, increased dependency to the big landlords or the state. Some of these were optimal solutions, enabling rapid restoration of the destroyed habitats, but at the break of dawn of modern times they were not taken into consideration more then only as an expression of poverty and backwardness.
Due to the negative evaluation of the Romanian urban realities, the modernisation programs, which were begun in the first half of the 19th century, were inspired by foreign typologies (French, Austrian, Russian, German) difficult to adapt to the Romanian environment, except by destroying some important urban areas; through them historical areas and stages of various dimensions disappeared completely (this is the case of the former Ottoman rayas/kaza - Giurgiu and Brăila) or partially (especially in the case of the two capitals, Bucharest and Iaşi, and also of other big cities).
Finally, within the scope of explanations, we must insist on the “social-psychological” component of the processes mentioned above. In other words, another group of factors that contributed to the destruction of the historical areas of some cities is due to the inferiority complex shown by the citizens of the cities and the local administrations, having as landmark the western urban images. For the Romanian citizen and city official from Moldavia or Wallachia, the 19th - 20est century western city was an elusive dream. In turn, the mentioned complex was fuelled by the absence of specific studies, among which a historical research of the respective cities and urban areas would have been crucial, researches that were meant to reveal in the end their urban, architectural, cultural and traditional-memorial value. For some of the respective cities, these studies were made later/too late and they could only notice the disappearance of some urban components which proved to have been of great value.
Conclusively, the lucid analysis of the models used in addressing the city/cities in the communist stage is extremely interesting, especially the one after 1975-77, when “the stage of the great urban systematization of the territory and of the urban areas within the Socialist Republic of Romania” begins. Promoted, conducted and supervised by the communist leading party, it could not be implemented; one has to admit that, except by the attendance of a large number of professionals, especially architects. There were enough among them already, who had been indoctrinated in the spirit of depreciation of the Romanian cities, overall, as well as of some of their components. It is important to highlight that some of the methods and models used in defining and designing of the new communist centre of Bucharest, for instance, were inspired by the projects or competitions of the 1900s or the period between the two World Wars4, thus closing the (vicious) circle.
Redobândirea unor valori existente în arhitectura veche, a tuturor adevăratelor principii, începe să fie o obligație, măcar prin reperele pe care le furnizează. Aceastase poate întâmpla printr-o lungă și stăruitoare contemplare, asociată însă studiului riguros.
Un asemenea studiu riscăm aici, abordând o arhitectură de excepție- aceea a ansamblurilor fortificate sătești din Transilvania.
Scopul restrâns al studiului este: găsirea raportului dintre unicat și serie, asociată problemei cantității de informații și valori, în cadrul seriei.
Partea a II-a se ocupă de situaţia actuală a urmelor acestei arhitecturi defensive (Castelul Huniade şi Bastionul Theresia), care au făcut şi fac în continuare obiectul unor proiecte si şantiere de consolidare, restaurare/reabilitare, conversie/reconversie, prin care vor fi integrate oraşuIui contemporan.
Cuvinte cheie: Timişoara, fortificatii, Antichitate, Ev Mediu, Baroc, Castelul Huniade, Bastionul Theresia, cercetare, arheologie, restaurare, integrare
The long history of the relation between the settlement/city of Timisoara and its fortifications is the topic of the first part of this presentation. The author presents both the certain and uncertain facts of this history, starting with antique stages and ending with the modem ones, dated to the 18-19th centuries. The medieval history is remarkable among them (comprising the period between the 9th and the 17th century), with its two components: Christian and Ottoman. The pre-modem (Baroque) stage is also significant, as this is when the large bastioned fortification was built and used.
The second part deals with the present-day situation of the remains of such defensive architectural elements (The Hunyadi Castle and the Theresia Bastion) that have been and still are the object of consolidation, conservation/rehabilitation and conversion /reconversion projects that aim at integrating them in the contemporary city.
Keywords: Timisoara, fortifications, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Baroque, Hunyadi Castle, Theresia Bastion, research, archaeology, conservation, integration
The conclusion, from the above mentioned reasons, is that there are only disparaged pieces of information and the general perspective is missing.
This is the reason why the paper will try to structure its domain, from the point of view of urban evolution, starting the births of the new settlements in the extra-Carpathian space and continuing the process up to the modern times.
The timeline looks as follows:
1. Pre-state stage (up to the 14th century).
2. The birth, strengthening and centralization of the independent medieval States.
3. The dependency stage on the Turkish empire including the Phanariot reigns, from the second half of the 16th century, to the beginning of the 19th century.
A parţial conclusion would be that, if, during the first stage there appear towns belonging to different influences (South Eastern European, Western, Northern, Oriental), which are manifest in the relationship between. town and their defenses, in the second stage, the procedures used for urban development became uniform, stemming from models, practices and methods of the Central European Environment. At this stage, some prior evolutions are confirmed.
The paper is founded on a number of studies of case: Cetatea Albă, Orheiul Vechi and Suceava and each comprises the description of the site, the cartographic support used, historical and archaeological data and the description of the complex built, all grouped according to the evolution stages of the respective town.
The beginning in understanding the value of historical architecture and the start of restoration in the Romanian territories (central and western, respectively southern and eastern ones) is quite contemporary: the first half of the XIXth century. Around 1900, all structures necessary for protection and restoration were already built, which during the interwar period carried out a series of remarkable rehabilitation and conservation actions, in which the modern principles of the "historical restoration" are applied, respecting the entire evolution of the monument. During the communist period, after a phase of dissolution of all the interwar
structures in the field, in the period 1952‐1959, The Department of Historical Monuments (DMI) is being restored in the new historical context and benefiting from a team formed in the previous period, extremely well trained and dedicated. Until 1977, hundreds of restorations of urban environments, castles, fortresses, feudal courts and fortified churches in Transylvania and fortresses, feudal courtyards, fortified churches, hermitages and monasteries from the extra‐Carpathian space were made. In Dobrogea, a series of Roman‐Byzantine and medieval fortresses are being researched and restored. In 1977, the DMI was abolished and followed a decade of rebound, where many
monuments degrade, some are demolished, but there are also examples of saving some that entered the areas affected by communist systematizations. After 1989 the process was resumed with difficulty, reconstructing very slowly the structures necessary for the protection and restoration of the historical monuments. For this period, I try to separate the successes from the failures, with a large number of questionable interventions, in which I think it was exaggerated towards the complete reconstruction of some components, without sufficient information. The 12 examples (case studies) cover all the period of time and all these situations, corroborating the historical data with the historical and current pictures: Hunedoara Castle, Plumbuita Monastery, Braşov Neamţ Fortress, Dragomirna and Cozia Monasteries, the translation of some churches from Bucharest, the monastery Vacaresti, Lazarea Castle, the fortified church of Prejmer, Targoviste court and Râmnicu Sărat monastery.