Happy Lupercalia!
Happy New Year to everyone!
La Mulți Ani tuturor!
Boldog Új Évet mindenkinek!
Centrul de Cercetare a Limesului Roman vă urează Sărbători Fericite!
A Római Limeskutató Központ mindenkinek Kellemes Ünnepeket kíván!
The Roman Limes Research Centre wishes Happy Holidays to everyone!
Inauguration of the Hășmaș watchtower touristical boards
On the 11th of December, despite the cold Transylvanian winter, many people gathered on the top of the Hășmaș/Hagymás peak, near Ocland/Oklánd, to inaugurate the newly set touristic boards which inform people about the Roman watchtower. Several members of our team contributed with non-destructive research on the site and participated in the preparation of the boards. A lot of interesting information was shared and questions were asked, and hopefully many are to come.
The celebration of science
The weeks around the 3rd of November are dedicated in each year to the celebration of the ’birth’ of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. In 1825, Count Széchenyi István donated his one year’s income to create the learned society, which would treat different areas of science. With this occasion, on the 11th of November an archaeological conference took place in Odorheiu Secuiesc, organized by the Haáz Rezső Museum. The one-day conference offered a very colorful range of presentations, from prehistoric times till the First World War, from methodological perspectives to settlements, towers, interesting finds, castles and war trenches, to which our team also contributed. The day gained it’s purpose, since so much interesting and valuable information was presented.
Limes All Around
On the 28th and 29th of November took place the 6th edition of the Limes Forum conference in Cluj Napoca, organized by the National Museum of Transylvanian History. Members of our team contributed with presentations regarding the reevaluation of the Roman watchtower from Ocland and the latest non-destructive research at the Roman fort from Sighișoara. The familial gathering gave the chance to researchers from all over Romania to present their results and to catch up with the latest news from other archaeological sites. Besides the great pleasure of meeting dear colleagues again, the conference remembered everyone of the mutual aim of the Roman limes research.
Open gates at the Castle from Gurghiu
At the 9th of June, the gates and doors of the Rákóczi-Bornemisza Castle from Gurghiu were open for the curious public. The central idea of this year was to awake the spirit of the baroque era, since parts of the building also belong to this fascinating world. Besides the opportunity to visit the building and the dendrological park, the ones interested could fabricate their own shiny baroque style fans and masks. Following the idea, that beginning from 1655 a paper manufacture was functioning at Gurghiu, the visitors could try this activity as well. Dancing could not have missed from such an event, children could learn the basics of baroque dances. The ones interested in exercises of the mind, could endeavour the challenges of puzzles which portray pictures of the castle, the Gurghiu area and 3D puzzles of the facade. The day ended with a spirit rising concert of the Trio Estate formation, performing beautiful sounds of the XVIIIth century.
Smallfinds of all times. The 5th International Symposium on Archaeological Finds and Their Significance
Between the 23rd and 25th of March three persons from our team participated at the conference about archaeological smallfinds organized in Geoagiu Băi by the Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization from Deva. The place, named in Roman times Germisara is famous because of the Roman thermal bath, which is spectacular, but the whole area offers valuable touristical points.
In the first two days of the symposium were held several presentations about interesting finds from the Neolithic to Medieval times, by researchers from Romania, Bulgaria and France. Some of the researchers singled out rare finds, others chose groups of finds and presented a broad analysis from functional, typological, contextual and geographical point of view. The subjects were very varied, presenting artifacts from all over Europe. On the third day the whole team visited the Dacian fortress from Ardeu, the Roman fort from Cigmău, the XIth century church from Geoagiu, named Rotonda and a fascinating waterfall named Clocota. The symposium was a great experience, which gave researchers the opportunity to tell the “stories” of special finds.
Festivalul 5R Fesztivál
[RO] A cincea ediție a Festivalului Roman de la Călugăreni (comuna Eremitu, jud. Mureș) va avea loc în acest an pe data de 12 august. Cu această ocazie vizitatorii vor avea posibilitatea să participe în cadrul atelierelor interactive care vor fi organizate în curtea Teatrului Șură și în cea a Mănăstirii Franciscane, să viziteze pavilioanele expoziționale TIME BOX, precum și săpăturile arheologice desfășurate atât în clădirea comandamentului din castrul roman (principia), cât și în băile romane. Pe lângă atelierele și activitățile deja consacrate (parada militară, luptele de gladiatori, expoziții tematice, atelier de bucătărie romană, mozaic, opaițe și figurine de teracotă, fierărie, teatru, coafuri, croitorie etc.), festivalul din 2017 va avea drept temă principală educația și copilăria. Vor fi organizate ateliere interactive și activități de pedagogie muzeală, însoțite de panouri explicative, care vor pune accentul pe educație și cotidianul copilăriei: școala romană, atelier de amulete romane, atelier de jocuri romane, concurs de limba latină. Ca element nou, în curtea Mănăstirii Franciscane, urmând aceeași temă a festivalului, vor fi organizate o serie de activități legate de școală și educație în mediu mănăstiresc (limba latină (cateheză), aritmetică, științele naturii, geografie, botanică) împreună cu prezentări de dansuri renascentiste. Evenimentul se va încheia cu un concert de muzică veche interpretată de Ansamblul Flauto Dolce și cu tradiționala paradă de torțe.
[HU] Az ötödik mikházi (Nyárádremete község, Maros megye) Római Fesztivál ebben az évben augusztus 12-én kerül megrendezésre. A látogatóknak lehetősége nyílik az interaktív műhelyekben való részvételre, melyek a Csűrszínház, illetve a Ferences kolostor udvarán lesznek elhelyezve. Megtekinthető lesz a TIME BOX pavilonokban található kiállítás, valamint a római katonai tábor parancsnoki épületében (principia) és a római fürdőben zajló régészeti feltárás is. A korábbi fesztiválokról ismert műhelyek és tevékenységek (katonai felvonulás, gladiátorharcok, tematikus kiállítások, római konyha, mozaikkészítés, mécses és terrakotta készítés, kovácsműhely, színház, fodrászat, szabóműhely stb.) mellett a fesztivál központi témája a gyerekkor és a nevelés lesz, melynek bemutatására különböző interaktív műhelyek és múzeumpedagógiai tevékenységek formájában kerül sor: római iskola, amulett készítő műhely, római játékok, latin nyelvű vetélkedő. Szintén újdonság lesz a Ferences kolostor udvarán zajló, hasonló tematikájú tevékenység, mely az iskolát és nevelést mutatja be a kolostori környezetben (latin nyelv (katekézis), számtan, természettudományok, földrajz, növénytan), valamint a reneszánsz táncbemutató. Az eseményt a Flauto Dolce Együttes régizene koncertje és a hagyományos fáklyás felvonulás zárja.
[EN] The fifth edition of the Roman and Renaissance Festival from Călugăreni (H: Mikháza; Eremitu, Mureș County) will be organized on the 12th of July 2017. The visitors will have the possibility to participate at the interactive workshops held in the courtyard of the Barn Theatre and at the Franciscan monastery, to visit the exhibitions in the TIME BOX pavilions as well as the ongoing archaeological excavations from the headquarters (principia) of the military fort and from the Roman bath house. Beside the workshops and activities already established in the former years (military parade, gladiator fights, thematic exhibitions, Roman kitchen, mosaic workshop, lamp and terracotta workshop, blacksmithing, theatre, hairdressing, tailor’s workshop etc.) the main topic of the festival will focus on childhood and education, which will be presented in the frame of several interactive workshops and museum pedagogical activities, like Roman school, amulet workshop, Roman games, Latin language contest. Another novelty will be represented by the activities on the same topic carried out in the courtyard of the Franciscan monastery, which will focus on school and education in the context of the monastic life (Latin language (catechesis), arithmetic, natural sciences, geography, and botany) and by the Renaissance dance show. The event will finish with the Early Music concert held by the Flauto Dolce Group and with the traditional torchlight parade.
Romanists are young forever!
The 11th Conference of Young Romanists was held between the 12th and 14th of May, where two members of the team were present. The event took place in Paks, in the vicinity of the famous Nuclear Power Plant of Hungary.
During the conference various topics from different fields of the Roman archaeological research were presented, like economy, religion, every day life, etc. The first section treated the questions of local production of different materials, imports, economical status of the different areas. In this block two cases from Roman Dacia were presented: glass production in the whole province and the pottery production on the eastern limes.
The three days of presentations were spiced by a visit to the Nuclear Power Plant and it’s museum and a wine tasting of the local breeds.
