The Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa – Main Causes of Degradation of the Painted Crosses
The Merry Cemetery of Săpânţa – Maramureş county represents an unique phenomenon at least for Europe, if not for the entire world. For more than a half of century it has become an attraction for the European tourism due to the creation of the artisan sculptor Stan Ioan Pătraş. He is the one who executed the monument-crosses in oak, he composed the epitaphs carved in wood and then painted them. Being permanently exposed to the direct influence of the environment, the monument crosses damage themselves from esthetic and structural point of view. The main factor of degradation is represented by the permanent contact with the external environmental factors: the water, the temperature and the light that affect both the wood and the paint layer which covers the crosses. Other influence is represented by the human being who brings more damages than benefits to the original crosses through his brutal and inappropriate intervention. In 2006, 31 old crosses out of over 800 new and old pieces were restored under a conservation and restoration project that aimed: to identify the crosses with heritage value; to identify the woody essences and the biodegradation agents of wood; to determine the conservation status of the wooden support for all the crosses considered to have heritage value; to appreciate the damages expansion; to suggest the conservation, restoration and replacement measures, the crosses consolidation, to identify the insecticide-fungicide treatments, to analyze and identify the materials, pigments and techniques used for painting and repainting, to describe the conservation status of the paint layers on the crosses considered to have heritage value, to prevent the degradation expansion and to suggest the conservation and restoration measures (consolidation of the paint layers, cleaning, protection measures and possibly making replies). It is required a constant monitoring for the conservation status of the crosses by authorized persons and the immediate intervention through conservation and restoration measures if there are notticed changes from the original state.
Keywords: the Merry Cemetery, painted cross, restored cross, Sapanta, Maramures.
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2. Mihalyi, Ioan, Dilplome maramureşene din sec. XIV şi XV, Tipografia lui Mayer şi Berger, Sighet, 1900, p.125.
3. Anuţa, Urda, Săpânţa Monografie/Monograph, Tipografia Aska Grafika, Sighetu Marmaţiei, 2005, p. 28.
4. Autoritatea Naţională pentru Turism România, Maramureş-Săpânţa, Editura Proema, Baia Mare, 2006, p.8.
5. Atacul insectelor xilofage determină în primul rând pierderi de material lemnos în orificiile de zbor. Dacă lemnul este afectat intens şi în repetate rânduri intervine fragilizarea sa şi astfel slăbirea rezistenţei mecanice. Prin creşterea gradului de fragilizare, lemnul capătă consistenţa similară unui burete existând oricând riscul desprinderii de fragmente mai mici sau mai mari.
6. încastrarea bazei direct în beton.
7. ca urmare a efectului variaţiilor de umiditate dintre anotimpuri de +/ – 10-12%, variaţie ce conduce automat la mărirea secţiunii transversale a corpului crucii de până la 10%, respectiv 3-3,5cm faţă de dimensiunea dominantă de 30-40 cm a bazei crucii.
