Archaeology - ROMANIA
Project Information for Volunter Archaeology in Romania - Avrig

Archaeological Volunteering Projects in Avrig

The old Romanian village Avrig lies on the left bank of the river Olt, close to the Fagaras Mountains, approximately 35 kilometres from Sibiu. Parts of Avrig, as well as the whole Olt Valley, are the oldest inhabited sites in the area. According to documents from the thirteenth century, Avrig was a part of Terra Blachorum (Tara Fagarasului) when the Saxon colonists settled there. The first documentary attestation of the locality is dated 1346, where it is referred to as Affrica. Other names are Ebreg (1413), French, Frick and Freck. By 1733 the name Avrig was established.

The focal point of the town is the baroque Brukenthal Summer Palace which was built in 1771. It was the summer residence of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, the governor of Transylvania. The park, almost 16 hectares, includes the summer palace, which looks rather like Vienna's Schloss Schoenbrunn and an orangerie. This is the only baroque park on the Romanian cultural heritage list and even in Brukenthal's time it was already very famous for its orangerie which had, besides plants from all over the world, around 1000 citrus trees.

In the summer of 1999 the government returned this residence to the Brukenthal Foundation of the evangelic church community of Sibiu. This foundation was established in 1997 and its main goal is to develop pedagogical and cultural initiatives and opportunities for young talents as described in Samuel von Brukenthal's will. Currently, the main activity of the foundation is working to restore and use the buildings in their charge in a way that will interest many different kinds of audience.

One main focus is on the garden where, surprisingly, both English landscape and Baroque elements can be found. The park is not in very good condition and so restoration and maintenance are necessary. Unfortunately a lot of historical information about the design and the construction of the garden has been lost over the years and it is therefore very hard to reconstruct or restore the gardens properly. Landscape architect Cornelia Freyer is working on a historical study and management plan of the garden, in cooperation with the City of Sibiu. In order to make a proper reconstruction of the historical park plan, the limits and actual locations of the former Baroque parts of the garden have to be found and therefore the assistance from archaeologists is required.

In October 2005 the Asociatia Culturala Hieronymus, with the help of Projects Abroad volunteers, started an archaeological dig in several places in the garden. The volunteers were supervised by Daniela Marcu-Istrate and Angel Istrate, who are both professional archaeologists. The dig co-ordinator was Professor Radu Lupescu from University of Cluj-Napoca (Universitatea Babes-Boy Cluj-Napoca).

The dig lasted for two weeks and in that time, over 20 trenches were carefully constructed to evaluate the perimeter of the garden. The new perimeter has now been marked and so the project will be growing and expending over the next few summers.

Daily timetable:

9:00 Morning session starts
13:00 Lunch
14:00 Afternoon session starts
17:00 Work finishes for the day. Volunteers are free to relax, have evening meal and prepare for following day.
On Saturday the digging is from 09:00 until 13:00 and Sunday is free.