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TERRA MEMORIAE

Where do we come from, whose are we, and what do we do next? These are the fundamental questions with which we set out.

In an age of social fragmentation, where interaction is mediated almost exclusively through screens, memory has also acquired a layer of amnesia. We are bombarded with all kinds of offers to sweeten history, and it seems we no longer want to know where our roots lie. The raw memory of places is still there, and our role is to uncover it and bring it to everyone.

As in an honest diagnosis, we will also find less flattering aspects that challenge the narratives we have grown accustomed to. Along the entire path travelled by hikers on Via Transilvanica, we discover these fragments of memory that need to be analysed and assembled in order to shed light on the identity crisis we are facing.

Although structured as a digital architecture, Terra Memoriae functions as a pragmatic tool for social reconnection. It brings, on a tangible, everyday level, the miracle of the encounter between present and past, between the digital and the ancient.

Terra Memoriae stretches across all the other regions, documenting their living diversity, traditions, and people. By translating this heritage through education, national media visibility, and clear management structures, we transform a passive archive into an active tool. In doing so, we close the circle: we build a culture of memory meant to heal alienation and generate an organic ecosystem of collaboration.

TERRA MEMORIAE

Where do we come from, whose are we, and what do we do next? These are the fundamental questions with which we set out.

TERRA MEMORIAE

Where do we come from, whose are we, and what do we do next? These are the fundamental questions with which we set out.

A UNIQUE LITERARY PORTRAYAL OF BUCOVINA REGION
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FLAVORS, TASTES, AND CULINARY HERITAGE IN BUCOVINA
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LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION AND FORMS OF EXPRESSION IN HIGHLANDS
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DECODING THE FLORAL MOTIFS OF SZEKLER GATES IN TERRA SICULORUM
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ARCHITECTURE AS THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIAL COHESION IN TERRA SAXONUM
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LIFE AS A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE IN TERRA BORZA TEUTONICA
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UNDERSTANDING HISTORY AS A LIVING PART OF THE COMMUNITY IN TERRA DACICA
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UNDERSTANDING HISTORY AS A LIVING PART OF THE COMMUNITY IN TERRA BANATICA
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THE ECOSYSTEM AND THE ROOTS OF NATURE IN TERRA ROMANA
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A UNIQUE LITERARY PORTRAYAL OF BUCOVINA REGION

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FLAVORS, TASTES, AND CULINARY HERITAGE IN BUCOVINA

FIND OUT MORE

LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION AND FORMS OF EXPRESSION IN HIGHLANDS

FIND OUT MORE

DECODING THE FLORAL MOTIFS OF SZEKLER GATES IN TERRA SICULORUM

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ARCHITECTURE AS THE FOUNDATION OF SOCIAL COHESION IN TERRA SAXONUM

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LIFE AS A THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE IN TERRA BORZA TEUTONICA

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UNDERSTANDING HISTORY AS A LIVING PART OF THE COMMUNITY IN TERRA DACICA

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UNDERSTANDING HISTORY AS A LIVING PART OF THE COMMUNITY IN TERRA BANATICA

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THE ECOSYSTEM AND THE ROOTS OF NATURE IN TERRA ROMANA

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WHY?

The project proposes a return to the raw experience of the journey as a space for learning and personal growth. We see Via Transilvanica as a vast open-air cultural space, where covering its 1,600 kilometres goes far beyond the boundaries of conventional tourism. It becomes a direct encounter with the diversity of people and places: ethnic, religious, gastronomic and a formative cultural experience in which the path educates us and transforms us into the authors of our own lives.

Our current research shows, however, that the cultural dimension of the trail is still not fully recognized. Culture is present at every step along Via Transilvanica, but its familiarity often makes it less visible. Through this project, we want to educate the way we look at the path and make visible the culture that already exists in every community, landscape, tradition and encounter along the way.

To turn this process of discovery from an abstract idea into reality, our main goal is to bring humanities research directly onto the trail, transforming the trail itself into a resource. This approach provides an authentic context for grassroots exploration. Here, first-hand encounters with our ethnic, religious and gastronomic diversity remain more than a theoretical discourse as they become a catalyst for inner transformation, aimed at restoring trust as a foundation for social cohesion.

We move beyond theory by organizing eight long-term cultural residencies across the eight regions of the trail, where artists and researchers from fields such as literature, anthropology, history, theatre, gastronomy and others will temporarily settle at the heart of local communities. Their purpose is to explore how the cultural diversity of Romania can translate into a shared identity, one experienced step by step, in an honest attempt to answer the question: who are we?

By translating academic research into accessible language, the resident’s subjective experience is transformed into an objective, scalable cultural resource. Each residency will result either in a work of art or in a tangible cultural product, permanently donated to the local heritage and made accessible both to the community and to hikers who follow the trail. Through this process, the objects and outcomes of research become resources for social reconnection.

The fieldwork will culminate in a 90-minute documentary and a launch event in partnership with Radio Romania. By stepping away from the isolation of screens and rediscovering our roots through direct experience, we aim to demonstrate that we can rebuild social trust in a nation that rediscovers its sense of meaning by setting out on the path, along Via Transilvanica.

The residents are specialists in their respective fields, selected by the project’s curator, Radio Romania Cultural, for their expertise and their ability to transform direct experience into knowledge and creative work. By bringing together field research along Via Transilvanica, eight cultural residencies and an interdisciplinary team, the project proposes a unique initiative at national level, in which the trail becomes a space for research, creation and reconnection with local heritage and communities.

THE MASTERMINDS BEHIND THE PROJECT

RESIDENCES

We are organizing 9 cultural residencies, bringing together 9 specialists in each of the regions along the Via Transilvanica trail.

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PARTNERS

CULTURAL IMPRINT

Each cultural residency will leave a tangible imprint on the community where the humanities research takes place. Through this, both hikers and locals will be able to carry these stories forward.

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ENTER THE WORLD OF HUMANITARIAN RESEARCH

If you are a specialist in the humanities, you’ve come to the right place! We are building a community of leading experts in the field, bringing them together to support long-term research projects and create meaningful, lasting impact.

Leave us your e-mail address to stay up to date with the findings of our research and the future directions of the Terra Memoriae project.

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