On Monday, November 7, the Butchers’ Bastion opened an exhibition celebrating the 10th anniversary of Bastion. Recently, I managed to talk to Minerva, who was one of the people responsible for this exhibition. During this conversation, I learned about the preparations, what the exhibition contains, and how much work has been done during the past 10 years at Bastion.

1. On Monday, November 7, the Butchers’ Bastion opened an exhibition celebrating the 10th
anniversary of Bastion. Recently, I managed to talk to Minerva, who was one of the people
responsible for this exhibition. During this conversation, I learned about the preparations, what the
exhibition contains, and how much work has been done during the past 10 years at Bastion.
Preparations for the exhibition started quite late due to other daily duties and a small number of
employees in Bastion. However, Minerva told me that the idea for such an exhibition appeared 5 years
earlier, when they celebrated their 5th anniversary. Eventually, they decided to organize it for the first
decade. The exhibition is located in this tower, an important historical monument and contains 6
informative panels with lots of photos - Minerva told me that they have an impressive photo archive
on the computer and that it was hard to choose only a few dozen for the exhibition.
The main, central panel presents a brief history of the Bastion and of its latest renovation, 10
years ago. Obviously, the Bastion itself is a very important historical place for the city of Baia Mare.
The Butchers' Bastion is the only tower that has been preserved from the old fortification system of
the medieval city. The bastion is one of the seven defensive towers built a half of millennium ago, as a
part of the fortification system of the medieval Baia Mare. Its name comes from the butchers' guild, to
whom this bastion was entrusted. It was renovated and rebuilt several times and its function has also
changed over the years; unfortunately, there was a progressive degradation of the building, to the
point that the area around the tower became a carpet and old stuff market. The restoration of this
historical building was possible through a big project with European funds (2009-2011). In 2012 the
first cultural event took place inside the tower: an exhibition and book presentation.

2. Today the Butchers’ Bastion is a place of various cultural events, where local residents can
participate in many activities. Over time, a small garden appeared in the middle of the courtyard,
which we will mention later in the article. The material for this exhibition was structured in 5
categories: Exhibitions, Tradition and Crafts, Partnerships, The Living Garden and Education.
On the panel for the first category you can see some of the most beautiful exhibitions that
were organized in this place (inside the tower or outdoor) from a total of 41 exhibitions of all kinds:
art, history, tradition.

3. The next panel, Tradition and crafts, contains a lot of photos from activities organized in the
last 10 years with the help of the craft team from the Butchers’ Bastion or other artists interested in
tradition. During these 10 years, a lot of talented crafters performed here in various events. The
craftsmen present in the workshops at the Bastion are carriers and creators of elements related to the
various fields of the intangible cultural heritage, in the form of unaltered traditional means, taking
care that the traditional crafts not be forgotten.
The next panel presents volunteers and partners who have passed through Bastion during
these 10 years. The Butchers’ Bastion hosted or participated in different kinds of activities in
partnership: movie evenings, exhibitions, poetry or theater events, roundtable discussions. Many
volunteers took part in activities and workshops. Last month, volunteers from Yellow Shirts and Team
4Youth helped in the preparation of the exhibition (they worked for the bumblebees installation and
the traditional motif from Maramures, sewed with thread on wood disks).

4. Another panel is dedicated to the Living Garden. Initially called The Butterfly Garden (2014),
and intended to be a space more sustainable than urban gardens usually are, this green space kept
evolving and changed its name into The Living Garden (due to the fact that the garden is alive all
year round) and is now an urban space for biodiversity. The garden is a great place for additional
activities and outdoor workshops and helps with opening young people and childrens’ eyes to nature,
climate change, the precious web of life in all its aspects that you can observe even in small urban
areas. In the future, Minerva plans to start a 365-days blog related to the garden and what happens
within its boundaries.

5. Near that panel, a charming installation with bumblebees made of felted wool is a reference to
the Living Garden, full of life despite its position in a very crowded urban spot.
Education is very important here. During these 10 years, a lot of workshops for children,
teenagers and adults were organized in Bastion. In the summer, around the summer solstice, a whole
week is dedicated to the so-called Yellow Workshops: every day, there is another workshop, another
technique: sometimes traditional, sometimes modern. Partners like Yellow Shirts Association or
Team4Youth Association also organized many workshops here. Other long-life activities were The
Thursday workshops or the club „Get your head out from the computer! – course for exploration and
un-boredom”, which was active for 2 years and where kids were challenged to see and experience the
real world directly, with their own eyes and senses, not through some display and learned about
nature, crafts, upcycling, and being creative. One panel for this category of activities was clearly not
enough!- said Minerva.
Besides the panels, the visitors can see the editorial work (book, albums) or other important
projects in which the Butchers’ Bastion team worked, too. For one of these cultural projects the team
received from Romania’s President an anniversary Diploma and a medal which can be seen in the
exposition. Posters of many events, designed mostly by the Bastion’s team, are displayed on upcycled
panels.

6. The festive bouquet, in golden tones, was also realized at the Butchers Tower. Among the
flowers, o structure of thin branches carries the hairy acorn cups of the turkish oak – Quercus cerris
(that was planted at the opening, 10 years ago, by the romanian and norwegian partners), painted in
gold by Doha, a Moroccan volunteer from Team4Youth.
At the opening, there was a beautiful atmosphere, dear friends and partners in cultural and
educational work were present, many of whom received anniversary diplomas and gifts.

7. The exhibition and the number of organized initiatives during these 10 years is impressive.
We wish you another successful 10 years. You will be able to see the exhibition until next year.