site.btaArchitects from Five Countries Collaborate to Preserve Cultural Monuments

The Palace Complex in Balchik hosted a three-day international seminar on a project that will bring together architects from five countries to collaborate in educational exchange and preservation of immovable cultural heritage. The initiative is of the Ecole de Chaillot in Paris and the National Institute of Immovable Cultural Heritage (NIICH) of Bulgaria with the support of the Ministries of Culture of Bulgaria and France, the French institutes and ICOMOS France, NIICH said on Thursday.

The plan is to create a cycle of training and a network of experts in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, who can work together in the future on common projects, said Delphine Aboulker, deputy director of the Ecole de Chaillot - Paris. She added that in the future the initiative hopes to attract North Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Cyprus, Montenegro, Albania, and Turkiye. She and her colleagues presented several restoration projects and the teaching methodology of the 137-year-old French school.

The collaboration in South-East Europe will build on the experience gained from the Chaillot -Bulgaria course with its nearly 24-year history. The two-year specialized course combines lectures on architectural history, building materials, building conservation and restoration, international and national legislation with architectural workshops in which experts go through the whole process in real conditions from research and documentation, through the analysis and synthesis of the site's data, to the ideas and designs for its new life.

"Workshops create a way of thinking," said Stefan Manciulescu, chief architect for historic monuments in the Cantal, Correze and Haute-Loire departments and lecturer at Chaillot - Paris. He noted that the achievements of the Chaillot - Bulgaria course are a model that deserves to be adopted in other countries.

According to NIICH Director Petar Petrov, the partnership between the experts from the countries in the region is also valuable because the exchange of information and experience will help clarify the general picture of the state and preservation of architectural heritage, the legislation and the attitudes of experts and society.

Forum participants visited emblematic 19th and 20th century buildings located between Balchik and Eforie Sud in Romania. The first workshop for architects from the region will be held in the Eforie Sud resort this autumn.