Baia Mare, the residence of the County of
\nMaramures, one of the most picturesque areas in Northern Romania, was first
\nmentioned in historical documents as early as the 12th century. The
\ncity is a symbol of multi-culturality and multi-ethnicity, with various ethnic
\ngroups – Hungarian, Romanian and Saxon – living together in harmony. Evidence
\nof the long history of the city can been seen all over the place, although some
\nof its buildings and monuments have been left to decay. Their restoration also
\nentails including them into a project that can provide a modern function for an
\nold building and also including them in the city’s daily life. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This is the
\nsituation of the central square in Baia Mare, dominated by Saint Stephen’s
\nTower, built in the 15th century. Also, the square hosts the
\nfoundations of the 1347 Gothic church, the Holy Trinity Roman-Catholic Church,
\na former Jesuit monastery from the 18th century, and the Degenfeld
\nHouse, a compound of buildings erected in the 16th and 17th
\ncentury. St. Stephen’s Tower is the bell-tower of a former church whose patron
\nwas the Holy King Stephen. Although the tower was built in the 15th
\ncentury, the church dates from an earlier date, sometime in the 14th
\ncentury. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The tower was built at the initiative of the Transylvanian Prince of
\nHunedoara. Its building started in 1446 and was only completed in 1468, under
\nthe rule of the Hungarian King Matei Corvin, Iancu of Hunedoara’s son. In 1847,
\nSt. Stephen’s Church was dismantled, and only the tower was left standing. The
\nrecent project to rehabilitate the central square, also known as the Fortress
\nSquare, has focused particularly on bringing back to the city’s public memory
\nthe most important ecclesiastic structure dating from the time when Baia Mare
\nwas called Rivulus Dominarum (in English Ladies’ River), in the 14th
\ncentury. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Architect Stefan Paskucz, whose firm designed the rehabilitation
\nproject, tells us more:<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The aim of the project was to restore to the city its most notable
\necclesiastical building, St. Stephen’s Cathedral, to which St. Stephen’s Tower
\nis linked. Both structures date from the early days of Rivulus Dominarum, as
\nBaia Mare was called back then. The project sought to turn the central square into
\nan urban area serving a predominantly cultural purpose. I think we have managed
\nto achieve this aim. The square we see today has an entirely new feel to it. It
\nis both a place of inspiration and a place where people come together. It is
\nlike a stage that can by itself generate cultural events, all of which take
\nplace against the background provided by the historical remains unearthed
\nthrough this project. I’m referring to other churches brought to life by the
\narchaeological work and about which we knew a lot less than about St. Stephen’s
\nChurch, the main building in the square, namely St. Catherine’s Church and St.
\nMark’s Church. There are no less than five different churches within a surface
\narea of 4,000 square meters, and two of them are still standing, namely St.
\nNicholas’ and the Holy Trinity Church, while the other three are in ruins.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The modernisation of the central
\nsquare and of St. Stephen’s Tower that dominates it also implied the addition
\nof some new elements in a way that does not alter the mediaeval appearance of
\nthe whole ensemble. Architect Stefan Paskucz tells us about what was added: <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
It used to be impossible
\nto go up the tower. There used to be no access way for visitors, only a steep
\nstaircase, as was common in mediaeval towers, that provided access to the
\nbell-ringer. So the tower has been redesigned and is today very popular with
\nvisitors. We also restored its clock, which is more than 300 years old. It
\ndates, in fact, from 1670, and it’s one of the three clocks of its kind still
\nto be found in Europe. It was restored by a Dutch firm and is now working
\nproperly, something no one believed could be possible. The aim of our project
\nwas to give the central square in Baia Mare back to the city’s residents and
\nvisitors and make it a popular public space. We believe we have achieved this
\naim.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Tourists are not the only ones to
\nbe impressed with the new appearance of the Fortress Square in Baia Mare, but
\nalso international experts. The project was one of the 355 from around Europe
\nto earn a nomination to the Mies van Der Rohe Award, the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. <\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
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\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The central square in Baia Mare, dominated by Saint Stephen’s Tower, was built in the 15th century.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":168642,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45210],"tags":[40109,45396,45395],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-168641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rri-encyclopaedia","tag-baia-mare","tag-eu-prize-for-contemporary-architecture","tag-saint-stephens-tower"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n