About Petro Aqua

History of the Association Petro Aqua

Over the years, within the Association, extensive greening actions have been carried out mainly on drinking water sources, alpine lakes in the Parâng mountains, Parâng tourist areas, Lunca Florii, Groapa Seacă.

In 2002, in collaboration with the Union Museum in Alba Iulia, the first seminar on this topic was organized in Romania, with international participation

In 2002, the Association became a member of the International Raft Association, headquarters in Spain.

2003

In 2003, the Association is organizer together with the Union Museum in Alba Iulia, of the first international seminar in Romania on the development of human societies along the Mureș River, where participants from Spain, Germany, the Republic of Moldova learned about the importance of rafting carried out on the Mureș River since the pre -Roman and the artefacts kept in the Alba Iulia Museum, which places our country among the countries where this occupation has already been recorded for 2000 years through the existence of some organizations (guilds) of the rafters from Portos – Alba Iulia.

In 2003 at the anniversary year – centenary of the Henry Ford Conservation Awards Foundation, the Association obtained the Grand Prize at the contest on ecological topics with the project “Water Time, Our Time”. The award ceremony took place at the Cotroceni National Museum, in the Great White Hall, and the award was handed over by the Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to Bucharest, His Excellency Jonathan Scheele.

Since 2003, the concern for the rehabilitation and preservation of the cultural and historical heritage of Jiu Valley has resulted in the rescue from destruction of two works by the plastic artist Ladislau Schmidt, a large fresco representing the history of mining recovered from the call room of the Dâlja Mining Company (closed mine) and the statue of Saint Varvara – from the Bărbăteni Mine, also the Bust of Avram Iancu recovered from the Țebea Mine, another closed mine.

2004-2006

In the years 2004, 2005, 2006 the Association participates as a guest in the Seminars organized by the International Raft Association in Prague, Belluno – Italy, Schiltach – Germany.

In 2006, the idea of reintroducing the Bolii Cave site into the tourist circuit was launched in collaboration with Grădiștea Muncelului-Cioclovina Natural Park and the Huile National Company, the Association is named the administrator of the Cave, and will continue investing in the infrastructure of the cave.

The cave entered the tourist circuit and has since become a sightsee of regional tourism.

In July 2006, the first edition of “Notebooks of PETROAQUA” appeared, a publication edited by the Association with the support of “Universitas” publishing house.

The publication has a historical and cultural character and appears in the national catalog of publications with an ISSN.

2008

In 2008, another large-scale project “Salt Road” was completed by traversing the Alba Iulia – Szeged route with rafts on the Mureș River, lasting 14 days, over a distance of 360 km, a reconstruction of commercial rafting since during the Daco-Roman occupation in Dacia.

2012

In 2012 the Association celebrates 50 years of rafting

Sailing on the river with a raft has become the “freedom of speech” of the Association, an activity brought to light from the desire to know it, to restore its place in traditional crafts, to bring communities, people, places out of anonymity.

In 1962, the President of the Association Imre Szuhanek carried out the first expedition on the Târgu Mureș – Uroi route.

This expedition, in which 6 members participated, was the first of the kind in Romania, becoming a European record.

On this occasion, a material was filmed that was the basis of a later award-winning documentary at the Riga Festival by the famous navigators and scientists Jacques Yves Costeau and Thor Heyerdall.

After 16 years, in 1978, Mr. Imre Szuhanek is part of the “Dacia 2050” expedition crew that leaves Sulina, on a fir raft for Istanbul, in the desire to reconstruct the transport of wood for masts from the forests of Moldova to Constantinople (Istanbul) He covered 480 miles on the Black Sea in 25 days, a feat that became a European record that still stands today.

2000-2019

A permanent concern was the editorial policy. Between 2000 and 2019, a number of 11 Petro-Aqua Notebooks were published, a periodical published in the National Catalog of Publications in Romania, with the theme of preserving the cultural-historical traditions of the Jiu Valley.

Benefiting from the exceptional acoustics of the Cave, among other important initiatives, the Association was the organizer and host for numerous cultural actions; classical music concerts, A-Capella choral concerts, folk music recitals, brass band concerts, exhibitions, carol concerts. They honored guests from Hungary, Italy, etc.

A special event that deserves to be mentioned was the representation “When the fir trees bloom” adapted from the short story of the great writer Ion D. Sârbu. The play was performed by the PASSE-PARTOUT theater troupe led by Dan Puric, and the scene was the spectacular interior of the Cave.

Consistently concerned with the history and traditions of the Jiului Valley, the Association recorded among its actions the holding in the Jiului Valley of two Symposiums with national resonance widely reported by the press of the time.

In 2012, one of the days of the Lucian Blaga National Symposium held in Sebeș was hosted at the headquarters of the Association from Peștera Bolii.

95 writers, playwrights, publishing directors and the two presidents of the Romanian Academy and the Academy of the Republic of Moldova participated.

In 2017, the year of the 80th anniversary of the creation of the “Infinity Column” by the great sculptor Constantin Brâncuși in the Petroșani Central Workshops, the Association managed to organize a National Colloquium dedicated to the important anniversary. 16 art critics, well-known connoisseurs participated. We were honored with the presence of Mrs. Sorana Georgescu Gorjan – the custodian of the archive, Eng. Ștefan Georgescu Gorjan, the creator of the technical project of the Column.

A sustained activity was carried out with groups of children from different schools in Petroșani. Organizational structures were even established, one of them being the Children’s Ecological Council with a great diversity of activities, thus seeking to motivate the young generation to know and respect traditional values, nature, the environment, running waters, alpine lakes.

They were trained in greening actions, expeditions on the Mureș River, tourist orientation competitions, actions combined with lectures on the importance of combating environmental pollution, biology lessons given by lecturers from the Focal Center for Biodiversity Conservation Cluj, PAEM Alba Iulia

MEMBERSHIP TO INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATIONS AND AWARDS OBTAINED

The association is the only one in Romania that is a member of the International Organization of Raftmen (a cultural organisation), since 2000, an organisation that aims to study the development of human society along rivers and preserve traditions and protect waters.

In 2003, as a culmination of the efforts made by the WATER TIME, OUR TIME project, the Petro Aqua Association won the Henry Ford Conservation Awards Grand Prize, one of the most extensive and prestigious programs of its kind in the world for the field of environmental protection and conservation of national and international cultural heritage .

The award was handed to the PETRO AQUA Association by Mr. Johnnatan Scheele – the Ambassador of the European Union in Romania, and the academician Dan Berindei at the Cotroceni Palace.

One of the prominent personalities who congratulated the Association for its success was Prof. Cristian Laşcu – Director of the famous publication National Geographic Romania.

A special fact was the kindness of his majesty King Mihai of Romania and Prince Albert of Monaco to respond and appreciate the artistic activity of the children in the association.

In 2004, on the occasion of the World Environment Day celebrated in a festive setting at the House of Culture in Deva, the Association obtained the first prize for environmental protection.

The Association’s actions were appreciated by some personalities of social and cultural life: His Majesty King Mihai of Romania, Prince Albert of Monaco, Director of the Transylvania Museum in Germany Volker Wollmann, President of the International Association of Plutarchs based in Spain Angel Portet, Prof. Ph.D. Marcian Bleahu – Vice-President of the United Nations of the Summit of the Earth – 1992 – Rio de Janeiro – head of the official delegation of Romania, personalities from the local and county administrations and relevant institutions.