Roșia Montană has immense potential for responsible development, but this potential can only be achieved through the long-term involvement of all generations who benefit from and hold the responsibility of managing this site. Responsible development cannot be separated from environmental issues; in fact, it must consider them in every step taken toward this goal. The generations of the future need to learn, from an early age, not only what the problems are but also what role they can play in shaping the solutions.

This is how, this year, thanks to the openness shown by Simion Balint Secondary School in Roșia Montană and our trusted partners, Asociația 37 is implementing the project “Clean Waters at Roșia Montană.” Together with members of the local community, children, parents, teachers, and authorities, Asociația 37, Asociația Roșia Montană în Patrimoniul Mondial, Asociația InfomART, and Asociația SNK aim to find practical solutions to local environmental challenges. Over the course of 11 months, the “Clean Waters at Roșia Montană” project brings educational activities, plastic waste collection actions, and community art events to the area.

In fact, this project has brought us great, great joy!
We, the Adoptă o Casă team, had the opportunity to participate as hosts, collaborators, and participants in a fantastic exercise of learning responsibility through play, creativity, and workshops that took the youngest members of our community on journeys to lesser-known realms, translated into their own language. One of these realms was the world of heritage, explored in depth during the Ecologos eco-camps, as well as in creative writing and music workshops. We were deeply grateful to be part of these workshops and even more fulfilled to see the information we have been striving to collect and publish for over 15 years finally translated in a way that children can understand. Ideas about the construction elements of a traditional house, the age of a building, legends and traditions, how we tell its story, traces of antiquity, the messages each element carries, their vulnerabilities, and how heritage speaks not only of the past but also of the future—these were ideas that stayed with us and for which we remain grateful to all who chose Roșia Montană as a destination for this wonderful project.

We were happy to see the spaces we have built, restored, or documented within the Adoptă o Casă program become hosts and opportunities for the activities of these young explorers: the Lapidarium of the Mining Museum, the Cellar of the Unitarian Parish House, the viewpoint on Văidoaia, the Greek-Catholic Parish House, the Traveling Blacksmith’s Workshop, and more. These moments of joy are, in fact, the indirect results of the ongoing efforts of our organization, which, over time, crystallize in ways that delight and surprise us.

Below are a few images—just a handful out of the thousands of moments that would each deserve to be documented.

Thank you to Luiza Zamora, Anastasia Staicu, Gabriela Caproș, and to all who believed in your project!