The Ministry of Culture and the Environment Ministry
\nannounced that Romania included Rosia Montana in the list of proposed world
\nheritage destinations. The final decision on the World Heritage List will be
\nmade by UNESCO in Paris, based on a file that will include both a plan for economic
\nrecovery and a heritage conservation scheme. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Rosia Montana used to be the most active mining centre
\nin Apuseni Mountains, in western Romania, since the first pits had been
\ndeveloped in the Bronze Age, to the Middle ages and the modern times. Traditional
\nmining, based upon the initiative of small mining associations and miner
\nfamilies, saw its final days upon the 1948 nationalisation, and was followed by
\nlarge-scale industrial mining, which concluded in 2006. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The galleries in the mountains surrounding the village
\ntotal over 80 km, seven km of them dating back to the ancient times, and making
\nup the largest and most important documented mining network in the Roman world.
\nThe defining elements of the site are its galleries, the landscape and the mining
\nfair. According to evaluations, Rosia Montana meets five of UNESCO’s criteria
\nfor a site to be included on the World Heritage List.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Several NGOs have requested international protection for
\nthis area in Apuseni Mountains, hoping to prevent the implementation of a gold
\nmining project using cyanide-based technology. For 15 years now, Rosia Montana
\nGold Corporation, a company running mostly on Canadian capital, has been trying
\nto get the authorisation to open here the largest mine in Europe, where they estimate
\nthey might use cyanide to extract 300 tonnes of gold and 1,600 tonnes of
\nsilver. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
According to Eugen David, president of the Alburnus
\nMaior Association, which struggles to rescue the Rosia Montana area, Romania’s
\nproposal to have the site included on the World Heritage List and secure its
\nprotection by UNESCO is not only a huge gain for the cultural heritage. It is
\nalso a major victory of thousands of people, from Romania and abroad, who took
\nto the streets to protest the destruction of nature and culture in favour of
\ncyanide-based mining.<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The village of Rosia Montana was included in Romanias UNESCO world heritage list. The Culture Ministry announcement comes six years after the request of the Romanian civil society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[38336,31114,38335],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-67229","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-alburnus-maior","tag-rosia-montana","tag-world-heritage-list"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n