Recovery of Callimachi-Văcărescu ensemble. Cultural and touristic circuit at Mănești, Prahova

Authors’ Comment

The proposed intervention for the recovery and revitalization of the heritage ensemble Callimachi-Vacarescu aims to address the issues related to increasing the cultural and touristic level in the rural area. Through the involvement of multiple categories of social actors: from the local community, to professionals and visitors, the intention is to ensure the saving and continuity of the use of heritage buildings on the site, by refunctionalizing and bringing them into the contemporaneity. As a cultural and economic resource, the recovery scenario involves the transformation of existing buildings into cultural, production and museum spaces, designed to (re)integrate them into both the local collective mind, as well as on the map of regional touristic routes. Thus, the use of heritage architecture can become a driver in sustainable development projects, aimed at increasing the level of awareness and accountability to existing historical resources.
Today the domain covers an area of 14 hectares and hosts the ensemble of an old mansions built between 1882 - 1892 based on the plans of French architect Paul Gottereau (1), the household ensemble built separately and currently completely abandoned (2), a holliday villa (3), two greenhouses near the northern entrance (4) and the nineteenth-century church, built shortly after the mansion (5) by the same architect, no longer a part of the property today. The edifice that became the emblem of the park, the Callimachi-Văcărescu mansion is not necessarily positioned in a strategic way in terms of orientation - having one of the main fronts to the north. Its location is most likely a result of the site factors, namely the preexistence of a construction of much smaller size. In the collective memory, the building is a presence towards which the local community relates to nostalgically. For them, it is just a ruined castle, whose only trace still lingering is the popular beliefs of what it was. As a respond tot his attitude, one of the proposed interventions needed to ensure awareness and resposanbility towards cultural heritage is the arrangement of exhibition spaces and an immersive museum route inside the remaining walls of the mansion. However, in order to become attractive to locals and a general public and to ensure the ongoing maintainance of the construction, a museum cannot answer the issure of abandonment on its own. Hence the need to associare it witg other related functions and activities. Summer school programms and different kinds of permanent workshops could represent the opportunity to bring together students and young professionals with different kinds of interests such as architecture and restoration, archaeology, landscale design, arboriculture, history and visual arts. The stakes are not only about refurbishing and bringing existing resources into the contemporary world in sustainable way, but also to increase the level and responsability towards cultural values. At the core of every revitalization scenario, the first step is to realize the values of the existing cultural heritage.