Petrila Planet

The infrastructure of many mining operations in the Jiu Valley has undergone a process of so-called “ecological restoration.” In practice, this has meant stripping out whatever technological equipment had survived organized or opportunistic plundering and selling it for scrap, demolishing buildings entirely, clearing the land and converting it to pasture. In doing so, an entire chapter of the country’s economic history is being quietly erased. Through the efforts of civil society, a number of buildings have been saved from demolition. Work is now underway to consolidate, rehabilitate and preserve them for social and cultural use – ensuring that at least a part of the industrial heritage of that era is kept alive, in the form of a living museum.