Roșia Montană seeks entry on UNESCO World Heritage list

The Culture and Environment ministries stated on Friday that they have enlisted the mining cultural site of Roșia Montană on UNESCO world heritage list.

“Roșia Montană was the most active mining centre in the Apuseni Mountains starting with the first exploitations in the Bronze Age, through Antiquity and the Middle Ages up to modern times. Traditional mining, based on the initiatives of the families and of the small miners associations, came to an end in 1948. Another mining stage followed, the industrial one, concluded in 2006.

Therefore, Roșia Montană is one of the most long-lived traditional mining sites known up to present times (…) Everything here is marked by the significant interaction between people and environment, which generated one of the richest and most spectacular cultural landscapes in Romania, also having world significance,” the Culture ministry argues.

The mining galleries have been excavated since the Roman Empire. The galleries dug in the mountain massifs around the locality mount to more than 80 kilometres, out of which 7 kilometres date back to Antiquity, forming the amplest and most important mining exploitation system ever known during the Roman Empire.

The Culture Ministry also points out that Roșia Montană respect five of the standards set by UNESCO for any site that wants to join the world heritage list.

The step comes after Roșia Montană has been classified as a national historic site of national importance, by order of the Ministry of Culture issued late last year.