A new book (but one that may be hard to get hold of) sums up a decade of detailed research, conservation, and restoration work at the historic Jewish cemetery in Alba Iulia, Romania.
Called “Histories Written in Stone,” it details the impressive results of the research project Conservation and Restoration of the Monumental Funerary Stones in the Jewish Cemetery in Alba Iulia, Romania, carried out at the cemetery between 2014 and 2024 and overseen by the stone restorers Sidonia-Petronela Olea and Valentin Ștefan.
NOTE: Unfortunately, we’re not sure how one can order or purchase this book! It was published by the National Union Museum of Alba Iulia and Editura Mega, but we have not found a direct was to order it! We received our copies from the Jewish community in Alba Iulia. There does seem to be a copy in the National Library of Israel.
Established in the 18th century and still used by the town’s tiny Jewish community, the cemetery is believed to be the oldest Jewish cemetery in Transylvania and one of the oldest in Romania. Extending over about 21,500 square meters, it includes 2,038 graves and 1,960 stones, with inscriptions in Hebrew, Yiddish, Hungarian, German and Romanian.
Erosion and neglect took a heavy told, particularly in the older part of the cemetery, and since 2014, specialists from various fields, students, volunteers, and high school students took part in summer work camps run by the National Union Museum of Alba Iulia, where they carried out historical research as well as hands-on preservation of individual headstones.
The U.S. Embassy in Bucharest supported the project via a $62,000 grant to the Museum made through the Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation(AFCP). The grant ran from September 2022 to March 2024.
The book, edited by Olea and historian Daniel Dumitran, was published by the Museum and launched this past spring at a conference on stone preservation and restoration that was held in Alba Iulia within the scope of the Jewish cemetery project.
The book includes a detailed history of the Jewish cemetery by Dumitran, as well as a catalogue of 111 selected gravestones from the old section of the cemetery which have been studied, inventoried, and restored during the project.
For each stone, the book includes before and after photos as well as transcription and translation of the epitaph and notes by researchers and/or restorers.
It is an impressive compilation demonstrating complex results of a project that could serve as an important model — given the right resources and professional experts to guide it.
A workshop camp modeled on the Alba Iulia project will be held September 23-30 at the Jewish cemetery in Făgăraș, under the leadership of Sidonia Olea and local activist Dr. Stefan Cibian. Volunteers will also work on stone conservation and restoration at t several Christian Orthodox cemeteries in the region. The aim is to form a team dedicated to intervention, rescue, and maintenance of stone monuments and heritage in the Tara Fagarasului region.
The Alba Iulia project, financed by the US Embassy in Romania, was implemented by the National Museum of the Alba Iulia Union, in partnership with the Alba Jewish Community Iulia and a group of academic, civic, and professional bodies: Among them the Department of History, Archeology and Museology of the “December 1, 1918” University; the Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Bucharest; the University of Arts and Design Cluj-Napoca (Conservation-Restoration Department); the Făgăraș Research Institute; the “Regina Maria” High School of Arts in Alba Iulia; Horea National College; Cloșca and Crisan Alba Iulia, Augustin Bena Cultural Center, Lucian Blaga Alba County Library, Gigapixel Art., Department of Jewish Studies of the University of Bucharest, University of Arts and Design Cluj-Napoca (Conservation-Restoration Department), Făgăraș Research Institute, High School of Arts ” Regina Maria” Alba Iulia, Horea National College, Cloșca and Crisan Alba Iulia, Augustin Bena Cultural Center, Lucian Blaga Alba County Library, Gigapixel Art.
Here are a few examples of stones that have been restored.
