In his widely acclaimed graphic novel “Here”, American illustrator Richard McGuire analyzes a single corner of a room for a large period of time, his reflection on a small confined space becoming a true Cartesian visual odyssey. In the summer of 2019, unbeknown to us, our group – consisting mostly of members coming from outside of Romania – would take part in a similar exercise. With a different range of educational backgrounds intertwining in the fields of design and cultural heritage, we were set to unfold the artichoke layers of the city of Victoria – the Romanian Venice of post-industrial blues, from which we all left as shaken as John Ruskin did from the capital of Veneto.
I use the term “shaken” in opposition with Victoria’s stillness, for as the neighboring mountain chain that preceded its urban development, the city of youth appears kept in amber, resembling a life sized time capsule. Seeing that Victoria’s entire genesis was solely catalyzed by industrial motives, it comes as no surprises that as the machines and mechanisms of the plants are facing the kill-switch of poorly handled privatizations, so are the revitalization horizons of the city becoming slimmer. Victoria’s Hidden Orthodox Church, built in secrecy in an apartment block during a period in Romania’s history in which the construction of new religious buildings was highly forbidden, now resides emptier and emptier, with funerals being the main cultural events that can gather larger parts of its once powerful community. The City Hall, The Children Activity Center and a housing complex for the poor all reside in identical buildings, the once striking villas designed by a foreign architect from the Republic of Georgia sheltering different current transformations, suited to their new functions. The city’s residents live quietly and composed in rigid socialist apartments, but break free in the way that they arrange and take care of their impromptu gardens.
It is this type of architectural rarities that form Victoria’s palimpsest, as its stillness has harbored a multitude of curious happenings, and these particular occurrences proceed to mold the lenses through which we can observe this ever interesting urban entity.
In his widely acclaimed graphic novel “Here”, American illustrator Richard McGuire analyzes a single corner of a room for a large period of time, his reflection on a small confined space becoming a true Cartesian visual odyssey. In the summer of 2019, unbeknown to us, our group – consisting mostly of members coming from outside of Romania – would take part in a similar exercise. With a different range of educational backgrounds intertwining in the fields of design and cultural heritage, we were set to unfold the artichoke layers of the city of Victoria – the Romanian Venice of post-industrial blues, from which we all left as shaken as John Ruskin did from the capital of Veneto.
I use the term “shaken” in opposition with Victoria’s stillness, for as the neighboring mountain chain that preceded its urban development, the city of youth appears kept in amber, resembling a life sized time capsule. Seeing that Victoria’s entire genesis was solely catalyzed by industrial motives, it comes as no surprises that as the machines and mechanisms of the plants are facing the kill-switch of poorly handled privatizations, so are the revitalization horizons of the city becoming slimmer. Victoria’s Hidden Orthodox Church, built in secrecy in an apartment block during a period in Romania’s history in which the construction of new religious buildings was highly forbidden, now resides emptier and emptier, with funerals being the main cultural events that can gather larger parts of its once powerful community. The City Hall, The Children Activity Center and a housing complex for the poor all reside in identical buildings, the once striking villas designed by a foreign architect from the Republic of Georgia sheltering different current transformations, suited to their new functions. The city’s residents live quietly and composed in rigid socialist apartments, but break free in the way that they arrange and take care of their impromptu gardens.
It is this type of architectural rarities that form Victoria’s palimpsest, as its stillness has harbored a multitude of curious happenings, and these particular occurrences proceed to mold the lenses through which we can observe this ever interesting urban entity.