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Tag: cheile rudariei

  • Les moulins de Cheile Rudariei

    Les moulins de Cheile Rudariei

    L’ensemble de moulins à eau de Cheile Rudăriei, (Les gorges de la Rudaria), le plus grand en son genre dans l’Europe du sud-est, est mis en marche par les eaux de la petite rivière, Rudărică, un des affluents de la rivière Nera. Le nom ancien de la commune, Rudăria, renvoie aux mots du vieux slave « ruda » et « reka », signifiant « minerai » et respectivement « rivière » ou désignant la pierre des meules.

    La première attestation documentaire de ces moulins remonte au XVIIIe siècle. Ces systèmes hydrauliques auraient été amenés dans la région dès les XIIe – XIIIe siècles par les moines cisterciens. Certains de ces moulins ont été restaurés, d’autres ont été entièrement reconstruits, tout en gardant les plans originels. Mihai Otiman, administrateur à la mairie de la commune Eftimie Murgu, nous en dit davantage : Les premiers moulins datent de 1772. Certains ont disparu avec le temps. Nous en comptons à présent 22, en état de fonctionnement. Malheureusement, les crues de septembre dernier en ont abîmé deux, mais avec l’aide de la Compagnie nationale d’investissements, on a réussi à les reconstruire. On a également refait quatre barrages et on espère qu’une fois achevés les travaux de reconstruction d’un cinquième, tout reviendra à la normale. Cette année, on n’a pas non plus été épargnés par les ennuis. A cause du manque de précipitations, le débit de la rivière a diminué ce qui empêche le bon fonctionnement des moulins.»

    Les moulins sont disposés le long du cours d’eau. Faute d’un assez grand débit, les habitants ont construit des barrages pour retenir le maximum d’eau nécessaire. Chaque moulin a son nom. Ils sont baptisés d’après le constructeur, le lieu d’emplacement ou la famille qui les gère sur demande des autres copropriétaires.

    Mihai Otiman explique comment fonctionne la copropriété : « Les moulins appartiennent aux villageois. Chacun a une trentaine de propriétaires, qui se chargent de le maintenir en bon état et qui viennent y moudre leurs blés selon un calendrier bien établi. Le maïs et le blé sont transformés en farine ou en nourriture pour le bétail. Ces moulins ne sont pas des objets de musée, car ils sont fonctionnels.»

    L’architecture vernaculaire des moulins à eau des Gorges de Rudăria a été restaurée au début des années 2000, sous la houlette des spécialistes du Musée d’ethnographie Astra de Sibiu. Ces travaux de restauration ont été financés via EUROART, le fonds culturel alloué par l’UE à la Roumanie. Mihai Otiman: « Les moulins sont construits entièrement en bois. Avec le temps, ils ont perdu certains de leurs éléments spécifiques. Par exemple, les roues à aubes originelles étaient en bois, mais comme les artisans maîtrisant les techniques de construction de ces roues se sont faits de plus en plus rares, on est passé aux roues métalliques. Pourtant, tout le reste est en bois, même les toits. »

    L’ensemble de moulins à eau des Gorges de la Rudăria figure sur la liste des monuments historiques de Roumanie et reçoit des centaines de visiteurs annuellement. (trad. Mariana Tudose)

  • The mills in the Rudaria Gorges

    The mills in the Rudaria Gorges

    At the foot of the Almaj Mountains, in the western
    Romanian region of Banat, in a small place called Rudaria, now known as
    Eftimie Murgu, people still preserve old customs alive, not for religious or
    mystical purposes, but to provide their meal: they grind cereals at some
    centuries-old water mills.




    The ensemble of mills in the Rudaria Gorges is the
    largest complex of its kind in south-eastern Europe, being powered by the
    Rudarica rivulet, a tributary of the Nera river. The old name of the locality,
    Rudaria, is derived from the Slav words ruda (ore) and reka (river). The
    words also make you think of the stones the mills were made of, being powered
    by river-water.




    Documented in the 18th century,
    apparently, those hydraulic systems were introduced in the area as early as the
    2nd-3rd centuries, by the Cistercian monks. Even if
    some of those mills have been restored, and others completely rebuilt after the
    initial architectural plans, they continue to provide maize and wheat flour to
    the locals. The villagers say that once, a mill functioned uninterruptedly for
    24 hours to grind wheat and produced no less than 130 kilograms of flour.




    Mihai Otiman, public administrator at the Eftimie
    Murgu town hall, tells us more about the past and the present of the mills in
    the Rudaria Gorges.




    The first mills date back to 1772. Some of them were
    reduced to rubble, and only 22 of them are still standing and functioning after
    repeated flooding. Last year, for instance, we had a problem, when a powerful
    flash flood destroyed two other mills in the month of September, but we managed
    to reconstruct them, with support from the National Investment Company. We’ve
    also reconstructed four dams, we have one more to rebuild and everything will
    go back to normal. Unfortunately, last year we were hit by floods and this year
    we are facing drought. The river has
    dried up and it should rain a lot for the storage lakes to be filled with water
    again. Silt should also accumulate to raise the water-level, so that the mills
    may become operational again.




    Hidden under the hard rock slope, where a modern road
    was built, the mills are well protected, standing on the riverbank. But,
    because the rivulet does not have a high flow, people built small dams to
    assure the necessary water flow for the mills to function properly. The mills
    bear names, either that of the builder, of the place they are located on or of
    the family who takes care of the mill, at the request of the other co-owners:
    the Tunnel Mill, the Trailoanea Mill, the Firiz Mill, the Rosoanea Mill, the
    Mill between the Rivers, the Prundulea Mill, the Popeasca Mill, the Maxinoanea
    Mill, the Hambaroanea etc. Mihai Otiman explains how this type of mill
    co-ownership has functioned in the area.




    The mills belong to the villagers, in a collective
    ownership system. Each mill has around 30 owners who are in charge of the repair
    works and maintenance. They each take turns grinding, on days that they decide
    among themselves. On that day, the villager comes and takes care of the
    grinding, and at the end turns the key to the manager, who passes it on to the
    next miller. They grind maize into flour for porridge, as well as various grain
    mixes for feeding animals. We also grind flour for whole-wheat bread. What we
    have here is not a museum, the mills are operational and they are actually in
    use.




    The mills in Rudarie Gorges have been built in
    keeping with the principles of the vernacular traditional architecture,
    restored in the early 2000s under the supervision of the experts from the Astra
    Ethnographic Museum in Sibiu. The funding was provided under EUROART, the EU
    fund earmarked to Romania for cultural projects. To this day, all repair works
    have to be done in keeping with the same traditional methods. Mihai Otiman
    again:




    The mills are built entirely of weed. Obviously,
    over the years some specific traditional elements had to be replaced. In the
    past, even the water wheels were made of wood, but since there are no longer
    any craftsmen who know how to make those wooden blades, we switched to metal
    wheels. But everything else is made of wood, and it all fits nicely into the
    architecture of the area. The roof itself is made of wood shingles, sheet metal
    or other materials are not permitted.




    Today, the mill complex in Rudarie Gorges is on the
    list of Historical Monuments in Romania, and hundreds of tourists come to see
    it every year.