Decision 46 COM 8B.24

Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu (Romania)

The World Heritage Committee,

1. Having examined Documents WHC/24/46.COM/8B and WHC/24/46.COM/INF.8B1,
2. Inscribes the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu, Romania, on the World Heritage List on the basis of criteria (i) and (ii);
3. Adopts the following Statement of Outstanding Universal Value:
   
   

   Brief synthesis

   Located in the city of Târgu Jiu on the banks of the river Jiu in the southern sub-Carpathians of Romania, the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu is aligned in a 1,500-metre-long conceptual axis tangibly represented by the Avenue of Heroes punctuated in its median sector by the pre-existing Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The monumental ensemble comprises the Endless Column in the Park of the Column, as well as the Table of Silence, the Gate of the Kiss, and the benches and the cubed hourglass seats of the Alley of Chairs – all located in the Constantin Brâncuși Park. The monumental complex, erected between the years 1937 and 1938, to commemorate the supreme sacrifice of Romanian soldiers, police and ordinary citizens who died defending the city of Târgu Jiu during the First World War, represents a turning point in the history of monumental sculpture and public art. It is the seminal creation and the sole largescale public work by Romanian sculptor Constantin Brâncuși who, instead of placing the monument in the city, “placed the city as a functional element in the centre of the monument”. The abstract simplicity of the monuments, the integration of monumental art, urban setting and landscape, the contrast between the verticality of the Endless Column and the horizontality of the surrounding park and the modest scale of the built fabric along the processional route of the Avenue of Heroes, the dynamic sequence and harmony of the monumental installations, the different textures of the sculptural works and their high aesthetic qualities demonstrate that the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu is a creative masterpiece of the 20th-century monumental art which played a key role in the dissemination of site-specific art, installation, landscape and public art.

   Criterion (i): The Brâncuşi Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu is an exceptional composition, a fusion of abstract monumental sculpture, landscape design, engineering, and urban installation, offering a highly symbolic sequential commemorative experience and conveying an artistic statement at the urban scale of great, manifold, symbolic, and spiritual artistic force and purity. The combination of the artistic concept, excellence of execution, and engineering realisation of the Endless Column, in particular, contributes to the achievement of one of the most notable monumental public sculptures of the 20th century.

   Criterion (ii): The Brâncuşi Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu represents a turning point in the evolution of the 20th century history of monumental art and commemorative architecture. The innovative spatial composition and the abstract language of its elements inspired by Cycladic, African, and Romanian cultures fused with classical architectural elements and spatial compositional features, played a key role in the dissemination of site-specific art, installation, landscape and public art.

   Integrity

   The boundaries of the property include all the attributes necessary to convey the Outstanding Universal Value; each element is preserved in its entirety and original locations, and all are included as part of the property. The physical fabric of the property and all its significant attributes are in good condition, and the impact of any potential deterioration processes is under control. The integrity of the conceptual axis of the monumental ensemble, manifested by a physical axis, is preserved through the entirety of designed commemorative urban open space. The property has suffered from some adverse development and neglect. Whilst the Endless Column in its park and the sculptures in the Constantin Brâncuși Park retain high visual integrity, the visual aesthetics of the Avenue of Heroes have been negatively affected by past urban development. This is to be assessed in the light of the urban breadth of this monumental artwork and how elements of the existing urban fabric and of the landscape were integrated into the composition. Some undesirable characteristics are reversible to a certain extent, whilst in other cases mitigation measures have been implemented and planned.

   Authenticity

   The property, with its attributes, bears witness to a revolutionary approach to sculpture. For Constantin Brâncuși, sculpture is the language of content rather than the language of forms, and the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble of Târgu Jiu is the synthesis of his entire oeuvre. The attributes of the monumental ensemble remain in their original location and, through their form and design, materials, craftsmanship – including techniques of implementation and installation, convey credibly and powerfully how the property represents the synthesis of the entire oeuvre of Constantin Brâncuși. The commemorative function of the monumental ensemble gained new strength with the involvement of local administration over the past years. The artistic and recreational function of the monumental ensemble were firmly a part of its original concept and one often uppermost in the minds of the general visitor.

   Protection and management requirements

   The property and its buffer zone enjoy the highest level of regional and national protection, provided by the List of Historical Monuments, annexed to the Order of the Minister of Culture no. 2.828/2015 for the updating of annex 1 of the Order of the Minister of Culture and Cults no. 2.314/2004 regarding the approval of the List of Historical Monuments, updated, and of the List of Lost Historical Monuments, with further updates, from 24.12.2015, published in the Official Gazette of Romania, Part I, no. 113 bis, 15.02.2016. Legal protection is ensured by Law 422/2001 for the protection of historical monuments and by Law 564/2001 for the approval of the Ordinance of the Government of Romania no. 47/2000 regarding the protection measures of historical monuments inscribed on the World Heritage List. The Zoning Plan for the Protected Built Area of the Brâncuși Monumental Ensemble and its by-law approved by the City Council of Târgu Jiu in 2014 provide measures for protection and conservation of the property and its setting, and regulates urban development.

   The Municipality of Târgu Jiu is responsible for the management of the property through the Constantin Brâncuși Research, Documentation and Promotion Centre, with a publicly appointed manager. The Protection and Management Plan of the property, developed by the Municipality of Târgu Jiu and approved by the Local Council in 2014, was updated in 2019. Long-term challenges for the protection and management of the property relate principally to its buffer zone and to its setting, where new development in the immediate urban context will be controlled by values-based planning policies.

4. Recommends that the State Party give consideration to the following:
   1. Developing and implementing a Heritage Impact Assessment for development proposals that may have an impact on the Outstanding Universal Value, authenticity, and integrity of the property, including the upcoming project for passage and underground parking on Gheorghe Magheru Street, and integrate the approach and methodology of the Guidance and Toolkit for Impact Assessments in a World Heritage Context into national mechanisms,
   2. Giving careful consideration to the choice of materials and design for repaving, urban furniture or lighting solutions in all ongoing and upcoming projects for the rehabilitation of the property and its setting,
   3. Collecting, in a hard or digitised form, the available archival documentation concerning the conception and construction of the property and making it easily available to the management body for research, conservation, and management purposes,
   4. Carrying a precise survey of the key attributes of the property, in particular the sculptural works, as a basis for ongoing research and conservation, as well as in the event of disasters,
   5. Making a more direct correlation between key monitoring indicators and the attributes that convey the Outstanding Universal Value,
   6. Including scheduled reviews and updates in the planning documents to ensure effective ongoing protection of the property, buffer zone, and setting,
   7. Considering burying or redirecting the railway line that crosses the Avenue of Heroes to improve the visitor' experience of the monumental ensemble.