Romania’s Ministry of Culture has recently submitted a proposal to include the Vânători-Neamț Monastic Cultural Landscape on the UNESCO World Heritage List as part of the “Land of the Bison” ecodestination.
The Vânători-Neamț Monastic Landscape overlaps with Vânători-Neamț Natural Park, a protected area of approximately 30,000 hectares designated in 1999 and including two Natura 2000 sites.
UNESCO evaluators will compare it with sites such as Mount Athos and Meteora, Irina Iamandescu, director of the National Heritage Institute of Romania, explained. She said the chances of inclusion on the UNESCO list are genuine, particularly because it remains a living landscape.
The initiative was first launched in 2006 by Sebastian Cătănoiu, director of Romsilva – Vânători-Neamț Natural Park, and was consistently developed with the support of the National Heritage Institute.
“There are cultural sites, natural sites and mixed sites; this one would combine the natural with the cultural. These monastic communities have over 800 years of uninterrupted monastic life in the region because of their distinctive way of living,” he told Observator News.
Nature and culture
Other similar UNESCO World Heritage sites are defined by monumental and urban configurations rather than by integrated and living landscapes, officials wrote in the nomination dossier.
The Vânători-Neamț Monastic Landscape represents a continuous cultural landscape in which monasteries and sketes are integrated into a protected natural environment consisting of forests and rich biodiversity.
Romania, therefore, argued that the site represents “a complete and living system of Orthodox monastic life, maintained without interruption from the medieval period to the present day”.
Another defining characteristic is the sustained interaction between the monastic communities and the natural environment, reflected in traditional land-use practices and the sustainable use of natural resources, the UNESCO World Heritage nomination dossier further states.
The park is distinguished by extensive mixed and near-natural forests, diverse flora and fauna, and its role as a key habitat for the European bison, a species of crucial importance for biodiversity conservation in Europe.
Other regions in Romania already included on the UNESCO list include the Danube Delta, the villages with fortified churches in Transylvania, Sarmizegetusa Regia and Roșia Montană.
Photo: Doxologia.ro / Bogdan Bulgariu (Sihăstria Monastery aerial view)
