Sanctum Reviviscit. Reactivation of Saint George Church, Malcoci.

Authors’ Comment

The diploma project proposes the reactivation of the former Roman Catholic Church of St. George in Malcoci, Tulcea County, built within the context of the German community that settled in Dobrogea and later abandoned following its disappearance. Today, the church remains a singular presence within the village, preserving the memory of a community that no longer exists, in a profoundly transformed social and cultural context.

The project is structured around the question: how can sacred space preserve and reactivate communal memory after the disappearance of the community that created it? Rather than preserving the ruin as an isolated object, the proposal transforms the site into a contemporary place for gathering, interpreting and transmitting local memory. The sacred character of the church is preserved, while being reinterpreted through cultural and community-oriented uses, complemented by the possibility of occasional liturgical functions.

The existing church remains the central and dominant element of the ensemble. The restoration strategy aims to recover its volume and architectural character through reversible interventions and the reinterpretation of lost elements, such as the roof covering and structural system. Later inappropriate additions are removed, while the memory of the former German community is introduced through a series of niches and display devices dedicated to photographs, objects and recovered funerary monuments.

The new building is positioned alongside the church and develops as an L-shaped volume, defining an inner courtyard while preserving the visual dominance of the historic building. Partially embedded into the terrain, the intervention establishes a dialogue of contrast and continuity between old and new: a heavy, mineral and grounded lower register is complemented by a lighter upper level in timber, inspired by the materiality and proportions of Dobrogean vernacular architecture.

The programme includes reception and social spaces, exhibition areas, workshops, a community library and study spaces, creating a gradual transition from the public realm towards more contemplative spaces. At the territorial scale, the intervention extends beyond the church itself through the creation of a public garden, shaded resting areas and landscape elements that reinforce the relationship between the church, the village and its surrounding landscape.

The project therefore does not attempt to reconstruct a vanished community, but rather to reactivate its memory through architecture. The church becomes not merely a remnant of the past, but a place capable of generating new forms of community and belonging.