The Transylvania Trust Heritage preservation, rural tourism and sustainable development ÂrpâdFuru 14 5 - 1 6 9 Ârpâd Furu - engineer and conservator (Technical Univer­ sity of Cluj-Napoca, Babes Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Technical University of Budapest). He was a designing engi­ neer, member of the conservation team in the u t i l i t a s His­ toric Building Conservation Centre (1993-2002) and Press Officer of the Transylvanian Historic Buildings Conservation­ ist’s Society (1997-2004). Since 1996 he has been Programme Director of the Transylvania Trust Foundation and Associ­ ate lecturer at the Babes Bolyai University from Cluj-Napoca (Since 2003). Since 2012 has been the architectural advisor of the Transylvanian Unitarian Church. He teaches Vernacular Architecture at different faculties of the Babeç Bolyai Univer­ sity of Cluj-Napoca. He was involved in Research Projects of: Transylvanian Castles (1994), The Inventory and Research of Transylvanian Vernacular Architecture (since 1999) and Rim- etea Heritage Conservation Project (since 1996). As a project director, awarded with Europa Nostra Medal 1999. He has been a Member of the Europa Nostra Council since 2001. The Transylvania Trust Heritage preservation, rural tourism and sustainable development Ârpâd Furu Over the last 15 years the Rimetea Heritage Conservation Project has en­ couraged the proactive conservation of the area’s architectural heritage. This project was initiated by heritage professionals to stop the unsym­ pathetic adaptation of Rimetea’s most valuable but greatly threatened historic buildings. Following a recommendation by former i c o m o s vice-president, Dr. Andras Roman, in 1996, the City Council of Budapest’s 5th district decided to financially support the architectural heritage of two Transylvanian villages. These villages were Rimetea and Inlaceni. The principal tool of this conservation programme is a grant system coor­ dinated by the Transylvania Trust Foundation. Why is the architectural heritage of Rimetea (Torockó) special? Rimetea (originally Torockó in Hungarian) is uniQue due to its picturesQue setting and its high Quality architectural heritage. More than 65 per cent of the houses are traditional buildings surrounded by traditional barns and other ancillary buildings. They form traditional sQuares and rows. The village of Rimetea is situated within a narrow valley between the steep scarps of Buru Pass and Cheile Aiudului, and is located 25 to 30 kilome­ tres from the towns of Turda and Aiud. To the south, the stark crags of the 1128-metre high Coltii Trascäului (Piatra Secuiului or Szekler's Rock) form a backdrop to the settlement. Towards the Aries Valley in the north, mixed forests of pine and deciduous trees surround the 1250-metre high Ardoscheia. The land around Rimetea was iron rich, and the settlement’s develop­ ment is inextricably linked to the extraction and processing of this metal. During the Medieval Period the iron mining and processing techniQues employed in Rimetea were famous beyond the region. This led to a rise The 1st Heritage Forum of Central Europe | 147 Rimetea and its surroundings © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation in the settlement’s socio-economic development.1 The settlement’s dual lifestyle in the 19th century, with the rapid urban development on the one hand and a strong connection to rural traditions on the other,2 is reflected in Rimetea’s architecture and form. Rimetea’s unified appearance and its celebrated high status 19th-century architecture contributes significantly to the area’s character. The 19th-century buildings frame all four sides of the village sQuare and are decorated in a classicist manner in line with the taste of the local bourgeoisie. The large village sQuare is rectangular in plan, and the regular arrangement of plots around this space suggests that the settlement's form was the result of a relatively short colonisation rather than a gradual organic development.3 The white buildings are one of the most important parts of Rimetea’s architectural heritage. The first of these Classicist Bourgeois Houses was 1 Zsigmond Jakó, "A torockói legenda születése és kritikśja", in: fräs, könyv, értelmiség, Bucharest 1976, pp. 62-79. Dr. Karoly Kós, “Torockói vasmüvesség", in: Népélet és néphagyomâny, Bucharest 1972, pp. 52-80. 2 Balâzs Orbân, A Székelyfôld leirâsa V, Budapest 1871. 3 Ârpâd Furu, Népi épitészet, inŁ Torockói népmüvészet, Bucharest 2002, pp. 355-409. 148 I Ârpâd Furu The map of Rimetea (traditional houses are marked with red) © Transylvania Trust Foundation The 1st Heritage Forum of Central Europe | 149 Houses on the Upper Market Row © Ärpad Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation constructed in the 1820s. Most are built from stone which became more widespread as a construction material in the settlement after a fire razed 40 properties in 1870. The layout of the white buildings preserves the tradi­ tional three cell linear form. This arrangement normally comprises a front room, a kitchen and a rear room. Sometimes the position of the kitchen and rear room is switched. Later extensions are also characteristic of this building type. The façades of the properties, particularly the proportions and deco­ ration, provide the character of this building type. The cellar doors that face the street have arched, moulded limestone surrounds. The doors are constructed from timber panelling, hinged boards or wrought-iron sheets. The two vertical, or horizontal, rectangular cellar windows have 150 I ÂrpâdFuru The Unitarian Church © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation wrought-iron grilles and exterior shutters. The lime-washed façades have two windows with shutters and decorative framing on two or three sides, sometimes with segmental arches. Elevations are broken up horizontally with simple stringcourses and ornate cornices, occasionally with den­ tils. Fluted or rusticated pilasters with decorative capitals, arches and rustication, all made from plaster, decorate the spaces between the win­ dows. Plain or geometrical glass is decorated with band courses. Above the windows, there are rich, traditional floral designs within semi-circular surrounds. These features are framed with scribed rectangular plaster motifs or curved mouldings that extend the whole width of the façade. Normally, a window-sized opening can be found in gables built from lime-washed bricks. A variety of ironmongery was produced in the village, The 1st Heritage Forum of Central Europe | 151 Classicist mannered houses © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation such as wrought-iron latches, handles, doorknobs, door-hinges, bolts, ar­ row-shaped window grilles and other iron fittings. The second group of white stone buildings in the settlement are known as the Eclectic Bourgeois Houses. These are closely associated with the Classicist-mannered buildings, mentioned above. Although the structure and plan of these two building types are similar their ex­ ternal appearance is not the same as they are decorated differently, and the ornamentation used on the “Eclectic" buildings is more characteristic of urban architecture. This building type retains a wider, plastered door and window reveals, pediments, fluted double colonnades, ornate glass, moulded cornices and Quoins. A new feature that was introduced with this building type was the L-shaped plan. The longest elevation of the house 152 I Ârpâd Furu Serf house built in 1668 © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation now ran parallel with the street and the cellars of the two-storied build­ ings faced the road. The 18th-century serf houses are relatively uniQue to Rimetea. This building type is clearly distinguishable by its structure and elevation details. These properties can be seen in the upper part of the settlement. Externally, these log buildings are plastered and lime-washed up to the window sill level, while above this height the logs remain exposed. Window frames are carved and together with the window surrounds are painted red in memory of a massacre in 1702. House plans are usually formed from three cells, a front room called the front house, a kitchen (pitvar in Hungarian), where the oven is situated, and a pantry. This also serves as a living space. The 1st Heritage Forum of Central Europe | 153 ' ' 'HMIiWlii'ili' Serf house built in 1749 © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation Log walls with intersecting joints support plank ceilings that finish with a principal beam in the front room. The floors are usually formed from beaten earth or timber boards. Original gambrel roofs were later changed to simple half hipped roofs with triangular trusses and collar beams. Timber shingles were replaced with tiles. The windows are always randomly arranged in elevations facing the street. In the 19th century, Rimetea’s lower classes remained separate from the civic process. Their architecture imitated the proportions and some of the features of bourgeois structures. Early peasant houses normally had wooden ceilings that were laid on logs or plank walls. They have simple half-hipped roofs covered with clay tiles. Shingles were seldom used to cover the roofs of this building type. Rendered elevations are lime-washed 154 ] Ârpâd Furu The Market SQuare with the Seckler Rock © Ârpâd Furu, Transylvania Trust Foundation and are almost free of decoration. Occasionally, simple or double plaster mouldings occur. The windows retain jambs but there are no surrounds or wooden shutters. This building type has a two or three cell plan in a linear arrangement. There are also some examples which consist of a single room. Large-scale cross-barns enclose many of Rimetea’s yards and form continuous rows with adjacent barns. Ancillary structures, such as bake-houses, pantries, granaries or pig-sties are sited behind the house. Only small ancillary buildings face the houses and are occasionally built next to the street. Some of these structures have public or commercial uses, for example a butcher’s shop, a grocer’s shop, a post office or pub. It should also be mentioned that the street structure of the settlement is medieval in origin.