PLURAL. History, Culture, Society

9-16

Authors: Gherghina Boda

The international legislation referring to the protection of the cultural heritage both in times of peace and of war started initially from a few articles inserted in legislative acts on armed actions of belligerent states, which in time have become freestanding laws in time. In a century, several pacts and conventions were published which constituted the basis for other international laws. Great importance for this period is represented by the Lieber Code (1854), The Conventions of the Hague conferences (1899, 1907, and 1954) and the Roerich Pact (1935). These normative acts have helped to implement conservation, restoration and protection measures for some national and international cultural heritage values considered to belong to all humanity and which have to be saved for future generations as they are proofs of human creativity in different historical epochs.

27-47

Authors: Adrian Craciunescu

Moving heritage has never been a problem of engineering. From technical point of view, when heritage became a doctrinal issue, everything was technically achievable already. Present understanding of built heritage is more and more connected to the place where such heritage was constructed and still, less and less related to its materiality. In the early sixties, Salvaging Abu Simbel in the early sixties overexposed this issue of deep link between a monument and its place. It was of such magnitude that even contributed directly to the World Heritage Convention. After more than half a century, due to new technologies and due to many changes in the way heritage is perceived, it appears that concepts of “place” and “reconstruction” tend to become less and less restrictive, to the point that the core concepts of World Heritage - “authenticity” and “integrity” - may become very difficult to assess at a certain moment. At least one position on Romania’s heritage in the World Heritage List is affected by the possibility of “dismantling, transfer and reinstatement at a suitable location” stated by the Granada Convention for the protection of architectural heritage of Europe. The wooden churches are movable by tradition, and this aspect is better reflected in the revised principles of Venice Charter reflected in ICOMOS Australia’s Burra Charter and, more recently, in Nara Document on Authenticity. However, having already so many precedents already, where else could we anymore trace a border line between acceptable and non-acceptable of such transfers and reconstructions in respect of authenticity and integrity? If such a line can be traced, does this mean then that a principle may be negotiable? Can it be properly set in a clear regulation or methodology?

61-106

Authors: Cristian Gazdac, Franz Humer

Located between Vienna and Bratislava, Carnuntum is by far the largest archaeological landscape in entire Central and South-Eastern Europe. Nearly the entire ancient Roman city once spanning 10 square kilometres is still preserved underneath the fields and vineyards of Petronell-Carnuntum and Bad Deutsch-Altenburg. The Federal State of Lower Austria not only set new international scientific standards but it also designed a model in regards to land use planning and archaeological monument conservation how to shape future concepts destined to balance history, spatial planning and economy. In the interests of the public the archaeological heritage is also exploited more economically: by restoring old excavations, with new research excavations and partial or full reconstructions, which give visitors a better approach to ancient times; furthermore, by involving the public more closely when investigations can be observed “at close hand”, and the presentation of finds in museums and special exhibitions. To this end, new presentation techniques and multimedia systems are used to communicate this information, including mobile phone application for VR.

150-173

Authors: Călin Neamtu, Vitalie Barca, Zsolt Buna

Sarmizegetusa Regia was included, together with the other five Dacian fortresses, on the List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in 1999. They are a unique synthesis of external cultural influences and local traditions in terms of building techniques and overall, in the ancient military architecture, representing the grand expression of the civilisation of the Dacian Kingdom. These fortresses are the accurate expression of the exceptional development level of the Dacian civilisation, Sarmizegetusa Regia lying at the forefront of this fortified complex, epitomizing the evolution phenomenon from fortified centres to proto-urban agglomerations. As such, promoting these monuments and the numerous artefacts discovered by modern methods and techniques should become a priority. This paper presents a series of last generation applications and equipment that may be successfully used in promoting cultural heritage. Case studies include scanned artefacts and 3D reconstructions of the monuments in the site of Sarmizegetusa Regia, a monument on the UNESCO List of World Heritage Sites together with the other five Dacian fortresses (Bănița, Costești-Blidaru, Costești-Cetățuie, Piatra Roșie and Căpâlna). We present here the results obtained following the use of several hardware tracking systems, augmented virtual reality applications and haptic devices. One of the important aspects, when attempting to make enhanced on-line use of heritage good is the extent to which it is accessible and reusable by various categories of users, either specialists or the general public. Digitalizing a good in the cultural heritage is the first step for ensuring the broad access via the on-line medium, the quality of this process ensuring the electronic format artefact legitimacy and credibility, which means that it should be an electronic duplicate truthful to the real artefact.

194-226

Authors: Alexandru Popa

The visible and invisible traces of the Roman Frontier in Dacia have been, for quite a long time, one of the most representative archaeological sites in Romania, and especially in Transylvania. On one hand, the Roman frontier in Transylvania, also known as Limes, symbolises a border between the GreekRoman world and the local civilisations found in the regions north of the Danube. On the other hand, we rather deal with a large contact zone between the two parts of the antique ecumene. Romania decided to join the international initiative known as Frontiers of the Roman Empire (FRE) UNESCO site by inscribing on the UNESCO Heritage List the components found on its territory – the Dacian Limes and the segments of the Danubian Roman Border. The activity of preparing the nominations is conducted by several institutions. Along with the National Heritage Institute, that is responsible, by tradition, of all the UNESCO nominations in Romania, the activity also involves the National History Museum from Bucharest, the National Museum of Transylvanian History from Cluj-Napoca and the National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians from Sf. Gheorghe. The National Limes Commission has been established to coordinate all the undertaken activities and to assure proper communication between the above-mentioned institutions, both inside the national partnership and with the international partners.

243-247

Authors: Sergiu Musteata

Book review, NEIL CHRITIE, HAJNALKA HEROLD (eds), Fortified Settlements in Early Medieval Europe. Defended Communities of the 8th – 10th centuries, Oxbow Books: Oxford & Philadelphia, 2016, done by Sergiu MUSTEAȚĂ