The Transylvania Trust is a registered charity, set up by conservation professionals and volunteers in 1996. Its principal aim is to conserve and promote Transylvania’s rich and diverse built heritage, to encourage the society to be receptive towards the built environment. The Trust is active in all fields of conservation: data-recording, inventory, survey, building restoration, maintenance, training, and also scientific research.
The Transylvania Trust’s main goal, the sustainable protection of the built heritage is achieved in the long term through integrated conservation projects. However, the Trust is helping wherever there is a desperate need in built heritage conservation.
- The Transylvanian built heritage is not documented properly. Therefore, the Trust’s research project-package entitled Basic and applied research of the built heritage is concentrating on the neglected areas. The State Assessment and Conservation of Transylvanian Mural Paintings and Painted Panelled Ceilingsproject is concentrating on the buildings with such outstanding artistic features. The State Assessment of the Endangered Built Heritageproject is directed towards dis-used buildings or those which can not be sustained by the community; and theVernacular Architecture Research and Protectionproject is trying to document the mostly diverse rural heritage lacking a sufficient economic background to sustain it. The research also analyses issues of sustainability, being finalized with a feasibility study.
- The goal of the Scientific events – spreading information in built heritage is to educate professional and public attitude. The scientific events address the whole sphere of historic building professionals (International Conference Series on Theoretical and Practical Issues of Built Heritage Conservation – Tuşnad) or they are addressing a more specialised group (International Conference Series on Historic Structures-Cluj). The society’s built heritage culture is addressed on a scientific level but in an easily understandable form (Transylvanian Monuments – documentary booklet series or the Conservation Technology documentary leaflet series).
- The Professional training in built heritage conservation project addresses a number of levels, in all cases having an accredited partner-institution (PhD Students, Centre of excellence, Postgraduate Studies, Field study project for graduate students, and the Built heritage conservation training project).
- The Advising on Built Heritage Conservation project is helping the owners of historic buildings in legal protection or professional issues, to maintain their inheritance, whether it is ecclesiastical, local government or privately owned heritage.
- The exchange projects include those with the US ICOMOS and with the Slovakian Institute for Monuments. We also participate at our partner-organizations events, as well as in scientific conferences. We have relationships with many professional bodies.
- Integrated heritage protection projects are designed to implement the conservation strategy of the Trust, and have been awarded with many national and international awards (Grigore Ionescu Prize, Europa Nostra Medal). In these projects vernacular heritage is ensuring the sustainability of a village community (Rimetea heritage conservation project) or the Transylvanian Versailles is being revitalised through the training of professionals (Built heritage conservation training centre at Bánffy castle, Bontida), as well as providing appropriate infrastructure for postgraduate and phd training (Built Heritage research and training centre, Breaza).
