About us

Petrus Italus Trust and

The Monuments' Ambulance for Bistrița-Năsăud

The Monuments' Ambulance for Bistrița-Năsud is the county-level chapter of the national heritage project Ambulance for Monuments established and managed by the Sibiu-based Monumentum Foundation. The Ambulance for Monuments project was launched in 2016 to rescue hundreds of heritage-listed buildings in Romania through a large network of active heritage organizations. To date, it has rescued around 15 percent of the listed heritage buildings in the country. These emergency interventions are carried out by experts, students and trained craftsmen on a voluntary basis with the support of local communities and authorities. Its achievements have granted the project the Europa Nostra Award, the most prestigious European award in the area of heritage protection.

In Bistrita-Nasaud the project is hosted by Petrus Italus Trust, a local heritage organization established by experts and passionate volunteers about the built heritage in this part of Transylvania.

Mission

We are an alliance of specialists and activists who see the cultural heritage as a collective resource that needs protection, valorization, investments in reflective restorations and harmonious integration in the life of the communities that inherited it.

Objectives

- punctual interventions to save historic buildings in serious danger of deterioration;

- restoration of small heritage (historic gates, doors and windows) with volunteers and donors from the community;

- educating the public on the cultural and economic importance of heritage;

- protection of the patrimony from abusive interventions exercised by public and private actors;

- creating a network of restorers, traditional craftsmen, architects and heritage revitalization specialists to launch and complete projects and create a skills base relevant to this field.