Those who are reading my posts know how much I love medieval castles, buildings and old buildings in general. I'm lucky to live in an old region of Europe, with rich history, where you can find a few century old buildings in every city. Unfortunately during the communist years a lot of damage has been done, buildings have been constantly demolished to erase the past and create a new one, favorable to those running the county.
Two days ago I was able to visit the Historical And Archeological Museum of Targu Mures that is set up inside the city fortress's walls. The fortress dates back to medieval times as the construction started in the 15th century and finished in the 17th century.
Fees And How To Get There
The medieval fortress in very close to the city center. Once you get there, the fortress church is visible with naked eyes, so you can find the way to the fortress easily. It's a 5 minute walk basically from the city center. Once you get to the entrance of the fortress (entrance is free), you have maps that guide you where to go and what to see.
Fees are pretty reasonable compared to what you have to pay in other European countries in order to visit museums and churches. Adults pay 10 lei, which is roughly 2€ or $2.5, for kids and pensioners the ticket costs 6 lei, 1.25€.
The Building
The building itself is a beauty. I'm not sure when it was built, but it was definitely centuries ago. The style of the building is here to testify that.
For many, many years this building has been used by the army as a recruitment center. After the communism ended, mandatory military service was eliminated somewhere in the middle of the '90s and there was no need for a recruitment center anymore, so the building was given back to the city.
Unfortunately over the years in which the military has been in charge of the building, preserving the original design has not been a priority. After the building got back to the city, it was restored to it's original style.
You can see these windows are different from the others, the frames and the glass is different too.
Unfortunately the windows are covered from inside, so you can't see the glass from close.
This is the proof of the past. It's common practice to leave a portion of the old s proof. In this case the design has been restored to the original. It's clearly visible it's not done by using a stencil or some sophisticated, modern era tool to paint the walls.
Time To Build, Renewed Monuments In The Carpathian Basin
This is the topic of the expo I visited and it's an interesting one because so many buildings have been demolished, destroyed, left to decay.
"That's how it looked like once, this is how it looks like now" - That's what you see on the photos. These photographs testify about how many of the churches, fortresses, monuments looked like before restoration.
These photos speak for themselves, there's no need for explanation. If left unattended, these buildings would not be where they are now. This is history and the longer we can preserve our heritage, the better for the upcoming generations.
This is the map of old Hungary, including regions that were detached due to the Treaty of Trianon, signed in the Grand Trianon Palace in Versailles on 4 June 1920. The history of these places is also the history of Hungary as these regions belonged to Hungary once. This is why the Hungarian government has dedicated funds to contribute to restoring these monuments to their original state.
These are photos documenting the renovation of the medieval fortress of Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely), that is still ongoing. Some of the buildings have been restored, some ruins have been discovered recently and the church is still in a restoration phase.
A memorial stone that dates back to MDC (I'll leave you to solve that puzzle) and it's written in Latin.
Here for example you can see the renovation work of Svätuše's reformed christian church, that is located now in Slovakia.
This is from Șișterea (Siter is the Hungarian name of the village), which is now in Bihor county, Romania.
A catholic church from Горяни (Gerény in Hungarian), which is in Ukraine now.
During the restoration works many hidden frescos has been discovered and restored as much as has been possible. This one is from Chilieni (Sepsiszék is the Hungarian name of the village), Transylvania, created in the 14th century.
Two wooden benches in baroque style, decorated with the specific folk elements that you can see in churches. These benches date back to 1489 and have been brought here from the reformed church of Visk, which now in Ukraine.
To make it more interesting, there's a TV in front of the benches, you can sit down and watch the documentary about the restoration works.
There are a few original documents dating back to the beginning of the 20th century, testifying about certain events. This postcard for example is written in Hungarian, dates back to 1929 and has Hungarian stamps.
Make It Attractive To The Masses
This room was very interesting for various reason. It has the time capsule, but I'm going to write about that a bit later.
This is the table where kids can have a lot of fun and most likely it's very different from what they do at home. There are two puzzle games featuring decorative elements used to decorate churches and buildings. There are also coloring books and colored pencils to have some fun.
An interesting puzzle game made of frescos from the 12th -14th century, found on the walls of different churches.
These are the photos of the frescos to guide whoever is up to a fun game.
The whole thing is in a big metal box, that can be lifted and moved wherever the exhibition is going next.
These frescos pained on church walls were usually about religious events but also about battles as back in medieval times battles were very common. Occupying new territories, converting people to another religion was very common. This is why many churches have these wall paintings that maybe belong to another religion.
The power of modern technology. This would be the title of the above photo if we would be at the beginning of the 20th century. I am not sure how these boxes are called, have seen a few in movies and documentaries but never in real life.
Looking through the magnifying glass this is what you see, a photograph of a church. How is that possible? This is how.
There's a printed photograph and a mirror in a 45°angle. When you look through the magnifying glass, you basically look at the image in the mirror.
It is fun to be honest, but taking a good quality photo of what you would see is a different story. I tried to get a decent photo, took about 10 and none of which is top quality :)
The Time Capsule
I've never seen a time capsule in real life, so for me it was a very interesting moment, not to mention that this is 113 years old.
It was found in the foundation stone of the Reformed College of Targu Mures (Marosvásárhely), build in on September 10, 1908. It's existence has been known all along as the school has had the original documentation, but only recently, with the latest restoration work they had the chance to get to it as it has been built in a wall. Because the collage belongs to the reformed church, the diocese had the right to decide upon the faith of the capsule and they decided to open it.
Photo of the wall in which the time capsule was found
The capsule is one meter long, 80 centimeter wide, 60 centimeters high, made of stone and carved with messages. There were several specialists present at the opening as each phase needed a different specialist. After lifting the top, they found a metal capsule, in which there was a glass capsule, in which there were newspapers from 1908, different documents, hand written and signed and a few coins of those times. You can watch the video from the opening here. Start from 24'.
Unfortunately the content of the capsule has not been displayed yet as the opening took place less then a week ago, on 22 November. I suppose the documents are now in the care of the local museum and specialists are examining them. Displaying copies of the original will happen later some time I suppose.
These photos are not mine, I was able to find them on the museum's homepage. Sharing photos I don't own is usually not what I do but this is a special case as only a handful of people have been able to see the content of the capsule and I'm not one of them. However, this is very exciting. Too bad those who were present at the burial of the capsule can't see it.
It was a very nice experience and I'm glad they took the time and invested funds in putting together this exhibition for people to learn more about the past.
