Romania–Construction of Buildings

In the midst of all the excitement about our new house, I mustn’t forget that I am in the middle of a series on Romania, after I found my long-lost disc of photos from our trip ten years ago.

When we went, we found ourselves in the middle of a post-revolution building boom, and I was absolutely fascinated to see how they constructed their buildings. There were a great number of churches going up, using different materials in different areas of the country. In the north the churches are mostly built of wood, especially in rural areas, but brick is favoured in more southerly regions.

When we visited the Sibiu Village Museum, which is a large collection of buildings transported from all over the country to a huge landscaped area, we saw many examples of traditional wooden construction.

Here is an example of very simple construction on a wooden pontoon which was part of a mill. The planks of wood are simply stapled together!

This is an extremely simple footbridge constructed from a curved log, with stakes driven in along the sides, and branches woven between them. Simple, but effective, and also very attractive!

The wooden houses were constructed very much along the lines of American log cabins. The corners were quite beautiful. The wood looks crude, but the joints were cut so well that you couldn’t have inserted a knife blade between.

Here is a wattle wall with thatch above.

The next picture shows the underside of the roof of the silk-spinner’s house in the Sibiu Village Museum.

More from the Sibiu Village Museum: wooden door detail:

Window detail:

When we were staying in Baia Mare, we were taken up to the site of the new cathedral under construction. This was a fascinating visit because it enabled us to see how the building was made before it was all covered up with plaster and paintings. This is the bell tower under construction; you can see the wooden frame, and the beautiful hand-made wooden shingles on the roof.

The bells on a temporary wooden structure, ready to hang once the bell tower was completed:

Detail of the shingle roof construction. This shows very nicely how the shingles overlap to create the marvellous decorative finish.

It was amazing watching the builders applying the shingles. They have a small bracket with a metal hook which hooks onto the purlin, and they sit on the narrow horizontal bar – all day! It must be terribly uncomfortable! They fix as many shingles as they can from one position, and then move the bracket along.

I am sure this would be considered quite unsafe in the UK and would never pass health and safety regulations!! In the picture, you can see the make-shift platform with the shingles awaiting fixing.

The next photo shows the shingle-making site. Each one is shaped by hand, which generates a huge amount of shavings! Because they are hand-made, none of these shingles is identical to any other, which gives a beautifully pleasing effect when they are on the roof, quite unlike our factory-made tiles with their uniform finish.

Here is a shingle, finished and ready to apply to the roof.

The pointed end is at the bottom, which produces the wonderful decorative effect

Apart from the bell-tower, which was constructed of wood, and well under way, the only part of the main cathedral to have been completed was the crypt. Much of it was still not plastered or painted, so we were able to see the brickwork construction.

Inside the crypt:

(This picture is rather grainy, I’m afraid; the light was dim.) You can see the vaulted ceiling, and the beginning of some wall painting in the centre of the dome.

The above picture shows the beautiful brickwork construction, in the area behind the iconostasis. It does seem a shame that this will be covered with plaster and wall paintings, and we felt very privileged to capture this particular moment in time when it was all still visible. Here is the dome construction.

They had begun the wall paintings:

A brickwork pillar:

This is the sort of internal wall painting that would eventually cover all this brickwork – this is the interior of the crypt at the monastery church of Birsana:

This monastery was also very interesting; again, the only part that was completed was the crypt, and this was more complete than the crypt of Baia Mare cathedral because the wall paintings were complete. The main structure of the building was of wood, not of brick, and again, we were able to see the construction.

Here is the roof under construction, and again, you can see the wooden shingles going on.

Underneath you can see what passes for scaffolding! I think our western health and safety people would have a fit, but this is the time-honoured method of building in Romania and it seems to have stood the test of time! None of the builders seemed to be wearing hard hats, either.

Here are some pictures of the wooden construction inside.

On this window, you can see some carved detail, which will eventually be picked out in brightly coloured paint.

This complicated structure is the beginning of a spiral staircase!

This is a very interesting picture showing the construction of the wooden roof.

This picture shows the construction of the wooden gallery.

A detail shot shows the wooden peg construction of the gallery supports.

I think this gives a taste of how buildings in Romania are constructed. We were so fortunate to be there during the time of the building boom. These buildings under construction will all have been completed now, and all indication of how they were made will be hidden under layers of plaster and paint. Today, the financial climate has become very difficult again in Romania, along with much of the rest of Europe, so there probably isn’t so much building work going on now. We were there in that little golden window of opportunity that enabled us to see so much.

Romania–Buildings Pt 2: Interiors

This time I thought I’d show you what the interiors of Romanian buildings are like. As far as domestic buildings are concerned, most modern Romanians like the same furnishings and fittings that we in the West enjoy, and modern houses and apartments may not look that different, although many people like to celebrate their cultural heritage and have traditional Romanian decorations. They have beautiful folk-art plates hanging on the walls, always decorated with a “scarf” – a piece of Romanian woven textile – I’d not come across this custom before and it looks very pretty.

This picture was taken inside the cabin where we stayed in Horea.

We stayed in several apartments in city blocks during our tour. During the communist era, Ceausescu had a policy of population distribution, moving large numbers into the cities and housing them in pretty awful tower blocks, all heated with communal hot water pipes that ran over the streets between the blocks. They had grim concrete staircases and were generally pretty horrible. Since the collapse of the regime, modern heating and other facilities have been introduced, and while a lot of the common areas (staircases and halls) are still pretty frightful (although unlike in the west, they do not smell, and there is no graffiti), most people have now replaced their front doors and you get a patchwork of different designs – in the same way that the gates in Maramures compete against each other for OTT-ness, in a smaller way, these front doors also compete for individuality! As my hubby was always saying, once you cross the threshold, in almost every case you enter a little palace! These small apartments are beautifully kept and decorated, with flowers everywhere, and plants on the balconies – many people continue to grow their own vegetables in containers, and several families we visited had cats. One apartment where we stayed, it was quite obvious that the parents had vacated their bedroom for us, and they had a pull-out sofa bed in the sitting room, and when we tried to insist that we sleep on that, they would have none of it. They plied us with kindness in every way. This particular family had visited us in the UK – he was a hospital consultant, living in a 2-bedroomed apartment in a tower block with his wife and little girl, on a miserable salary compared with his peers in the West. My hubby arranged for him to visit our local hospitals, and the staff were only too happy to show him around and invited him to attend operations. He went home having learnt so much, and was so impressed with everyone’s kindness, and how blessed we are here with so much modern equipment. The whole experience of getting to know this family was most humbling.

Here’s the interior of a house in the Sibiu Village Museum which I mentioned before.

This shows some traditional wooden furniture and a very simple country interior.

Here’s another interior from the Sibiu Village Museum, showing a bedroom with a simple wooden bed, a woven textile adorning the walls, some interesting portraits and a glorious painted chest. Ages ago I bought a plain flat-pack chest from Ikea which has remained in its box ever since, and when we move, I am hoping to paint it and assemble it – I may do something in this style…

These are, of course, museum houses, and I’m not sure how many houses that are actually lived in are still in this style, but much of the country remains very rural and traditional, so it is quite likely.

I suppose the majority of buildings we actually went inside in the course of our travels were churches. This is the inside of the little Lutheran church in Cisnadie, the charming faded little German-speaking town we visited. These are the choir stalls, with beautifully painted panels.

This is the simple iconostasis in a tiny Romanian Orthodox church in the Sibiu Village Museum, transported from Salaj County. You can see the use of draped woven textiles again.

Here is the painted ceiling of the same church, together with a painted wooden chandelier.

These are typical interiors that you find in the wooden churches of Transylvania. In complete contrast, here is the high altar in the Franciscan church in Cluj, which is presumably Roman Catholic, as far as I remember. I know where my own personal tastes lie, at any rate!

This painted interior and iconostasis in the Orthodox church in Baia Mare is typical of the more urban churches.

I promised I would show you some more pictures of the interior of the synagogue in Baia Mare. This is the painted ceiling, embellished with innumerable gold stars around a Magen David, with the Torah tablets painted at the further end of the ceiling, above the window. You can see the women’s gallery on the left.

This is the bimah, where the Torah scrolls are read. You can see the Magen David and Menorah decorations painted on the pillars.

Here, our lovely old guide has opened the Ark and my hubby is looking at the Torah scrolls inside.

I found the synagogue to be the most poignant and moving place to visit, redolent of its more vigorous and lively past before the Holocaust bore away most of its community. I always remember seeing Rabbi Lionel Blue on a television programme, travelling around Eastern Europe, and coming to a building which acted as a repository for rescued Torah scrolls, each one representing a community completely exterminated, and he turned to the camera and asked them to stop filming – he said, “I can’t stay in here…” and could speak no more.

I hope this has given you a taste of the very varied interiors we encountered on our travels. Next time I shall be showing some photos of how the buildings were constructed – something I found absolutely fascinating.

Romania–Buildings Pt. 1: Exteriors

I decided to split the post I intended doing on the buildings of Romania because there was just so much – I was completely bowled over by the different styles in the various regions, their beauty, and their total otherness from anything I’d experienced before. In this post, I intend sharing pictures showing the different styles of the exteriors, and in subsequent posts, I shall concentrate on the interiors, and on the building techniques we saw in action during the extraordinary period of transition when we visited – a real building boom!

In the cities, the buildings tend to be stone or brick built, and the churches are in the traditional Byzantine style of the Orthodox Church, covered richly with wall paintings inside, as you saw in my previous post – the picture of the church in Baia Mare where the blessing of the wedding rings took place. Here are a couple of pictures taken in the capital city, Bucharest, the second of which is a church.

In my last post, I mentioned the little German town of Cisnadie. The faded pastel shades and dilapidated condition of the place enchanted me – it had a fragility which made me feel that if something were not done soon, the place would eventually sink back into the earth, but the worst that could happen would be for it to be tarted up and made into a bland tourist attraction! I felt privileged to be there to witness its faded charm.

 

Here is a house at Beles.

A lot of buildings have aluminium roofs, which weather to a soft pale grey, but when they are new, they shine like silver in the sun!

We spent a day at Banffy Castle near Cluj. This ancient building was a ruin, but it was being restored by an international team. I took far too many photos to share on here, but here’s a sample:

Here is a portion that has been restored.

There are numerous monasteries in Romania, now enjoying a comeback after severe repression during the Ceausescu era. Here is the gate to the one at Rohia.

This is the chapel at Rohia.

The buildings in the monastery complex are roofed with aluminium, weathered to its soft grey finish.

Maramures is famous for its wooden buildings, and especially for the elaborate carved wooden gates in the villages – it seems that the Romanians in this region suffer from a serious case of Keeping Up with the Joneses – they all try to outdo each other and some of the gates are distinctly over the top!

A common feature is swags of chains hanging from the arches – this is a good example of one of these. The chains, like the rest of the gate, are carved from wood, and of course, they had to be carved from a single piece, showing great skill in the woodcarver’s art. You can also see the traditional cable-style carving.

Here’s a detail of another carved gate. This is a very traditional style of Romanian carving.

This is one of the typical Transylvanian wooden churches in Maramures. You can see the carved wooden detail running along the length of the building, and also the roof covered with wooden shingles. I shall be showing you more of these when we look at the construction of buildings. There are metal grave crosses in the foreground, and the wooden objects leaning against the church wall are coffin carriers.

Here’s a detail of the roof. The church roofs are often constructed in layers like this, rather like the beautiful oriental roofs of China.

This is one particular style of shingle. The overall pattern is delightful, and the wood weathers unevenly, giving a subtly mottled effect. Every shingle is hand-carved.

The grave markers (I can’t call them gravestones because they are made of wood!) are absolutely gorgeous. They often have pictures of the deceased, and some information about their life.

This particular one marks the grave of a lady, shown here with her spindle and distaff. There is a very famous cemetery in Sapanta, in Maramures, but unfortunately we didn’t get there. It is called the Merry Cemetery because of all the delightful and amusing pictures and anecdotes about the people buried there. If you Google it you can find lots of images. It’s such a lovely tradition, and it makes this final resting place of the dead a cheerful and happy place, rather than a sorrowful one.

We visited the old synagogue in Baia Mare.

I was reduced to tears inside, as we were shown round by an elderly Jewish man who clearly loved caring for this now virtually abandoned building. The Jews of Romania suffered horribly in the Holocaust and few returned. The pews contained the old books and prayer shawls, and it was a touching memorial of a once-thriving and devout community.

I will show you some more pictures  of its beautiful interior in the next post.

Returning to the wooden churches of Maramures, Surdesti boasted the tallest wooden spire in Europe – not sure if this still holds true, but it’s impressive nonetheless.

The entrance to the church.

Here’s a rather different style of Maramures house – covered in brightly coloured tiles!

These metal gates and railings are a very common sight all over the country.

Another decorated house, this time near the Prislop Pass in the Carpathian Mountains.

Notice again the aluminium roof. There are some wooden shingles on the building beyond.

At Varatec, up in the north-east of Romania near the Moldovan and Ukrainian borders, we found this house with a distinctly Russian appearance.

If it’s over-the-top you want, look no further than the famous Romanian gypsy palaces!

Finally, no journey around the buildings of Romania would be complete without a glimpse of the painted monastery of Moldovita.

This exterior wall painting depicts the Battle of Constantinople in 717-8 AD, which stopped the advance of Islam into Europe.

This is only a sample of the photos I took. It was really hard to choose which to include. There were far too many to include interiors in this post, so they will have to wait!