Can you get to west-central Romania this summer? Applications are open for participants in the 12th edition of the annual conservation and restoration summer work camp in the old Jewish cemetery in Alba Iulia, July 21-30.
The camp focus includes restoration and preservation of individual gravestones as well as general cleaning of the site, plus lectures and study sessions. Conservation work (cleaning and treatment of monuments) is overseen by the project manager, the stone restorer Sidonia P. Olea.
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 toll, particularly in the older part of the cemetery, and since 2014, specialists from various fields, students, volunteers, and high school students have taken part in the summer work camps run by the National Union Museum of Alba Iulia in collaboration with the 1 Decembrie 1918 University, where they carry out historical research as well as hands-on preservation of individual headstones.
The results have been impressive.
The project’s work between 2014 and 2024 was published as a book last year, with full documentation and before and after photos of more than 100 headstones — but unfortunately the book can only be obtained on-site.
Find the link to the registration for HERE — you may need to ask permission to access the form.
For further details or questions, contact Sidonia Olea by phone at +40 (0) 749 977 047 or send a message via the project Facebook page
Here are some examples of matzevot restored during the sessions over the years:
