MEeT Heritage

Authors’ Comment

Recent investments in the economic valorization of historical heritage have often meant the ignoring or selective application of the contemporary principles of the restoration of historical monuments, leading to irreparable losses of cultural values. To counter this trend, MET proposes to invest in the experiential education of students and young professionals, in parallel with increasing the level of awareness of the population - residents or owners of historical monuments, regarding the importance of the involvement of specialists in the preservation of historical buildings.
Using as a "training ground" the construction sites in which the foundation is involved, the summer school provides the concentrated experience of a restoration intervention, the practical activities being integrated into a "chain" of processes that the restoration architect encounters in his work and which cannot be experienced in the formal education system. "MEeT Heritage 01" brought together through lectures, related activities and meetings with specialists, as much as possible of the stages of a restoration project: from history and documentation, to survey and diagnosis, project and technical detailing, construction site, to entrepreneurship and what it happens further with a restored house.
Under the guidance of the coordinators, work was carried out on the porch of the Șerbu House (dismantling, cleaning, completion, and reassembly of the wooden structure; restoration of the masonry piles at the base) and on the Butchers Tower and Bastion (marking at the level of the pavement of an archaeological structure, cleaning the stone masonry at the ground floor of the tower, the marking of former openings in the bastion wall).
"MEeT Heritage" is thought of as a recurring event and the positive feedback received in the anonymous final questionnaire can confirm the interest in this type of activity but also the particular nuances and novelty brought in the large family of summer schools.

If I think about other similar experiences, I would say that a positive feature of this summer school is...
"The real involvement of the participants in the restoration project, both of the Butchers' Tower and the Șerbu House, by presenting the project and all its stages. Many times, in an architecture volunteering or a summer school, you are not told why you are working there and for what, but the fact that in this summer school, every detail was presented to us, I think it involved us with more consideration and enthusiasm.”
"A summer school that helped me learn practical things, to have the opportunity to meet people from whom I can learn, to assume responsibilities on the site, to think about what I put into practice, to get involved and make decisions, not just execute some commands. All the work behind a project is revealed, together with visiting motivating completed works, are experiences that attract me even more to this field."
"I enjoyed everything from the presentations, the trip to the work done together. The presence of Christian who was so involved in teaching each of us and allowing everyone to work everywhere, masonry, carpentry, etc. brought a great addition to this summer school. Also, I appreciated most, the fact that each restoration project was presented to us in detail. I believe that it was not a summer school strictly based on physical work, but also the theoretical side and the balance between these two aspects is not often present in other summer schools."