At the end of April, we organized the first exploratory visit to the furnace site — part of the industrial site that belonged to the Reșița Metallurgical Combine (now owned by Artrom Steel Tubes) — as a first step in the extensive endeavor where we aim to 1) promote the industrial heritage value of the furnace and 2) encourage a debate at the Reșița community level regarding its preservation and opening to the public. Details about the initiative, here: LINK.

Every visit to Reșița is different. Even though we, as a constant working team in Reșița, go there several times a year, each time we see the city through the eyes of new people who accompany us and who come with different filters — personal, professional, methodological. This time, we were accompanied by those we have involved in the Oral History Group, composed of 5 journalists, storytellers, anthropologists, who document the city's transformations and developments, as well as the culture of industrial work or daily life, from the period of the 1960s-1970s, as felt by the people of Reșița — with their own perspectives and related emotions. More details about the "crew" and our goals, here: LINK.

<<"Reșița has already told its own stories," a local literary critic told us over coffee. She meant that a large part of what was, of what people lived, of what the furnace meant, had already been told – in history, poetry, prose. But the storytelling either stopped decades ago, or the audience no longer pays attention. A professor passionate about mountain hiking joked the other day that the definition of a specialist is someone who comes from outside to show you things with different eyes. In that sense, this is the "specialization" we bring, those from outside: fresh ears to listen, fresh eyes to see, and, hopefully, new ideas to further tell the story. "You had to come to Reșița for me to finally visit the furnace too," a local chemistry professor told us. >>

(Reprinted from Cristi Lupșa's text, from the first visit with the oral history group to the furnace site.)

Continuing and complementing the visit, the German Library "Alexander Tietz" and the Amateur Filmmaker Museum prepared a photography exhibition and a film screening, capturing the evolution of Reșița's furnaces over time. Some of us learned, others remembered what the efforts of the Reșița community members looked like to save furnace 2 from demolition, the last furnace among those built in successive technological stages over 250 years on the old city's furnace site.

As usual, we were hosted and guided by the people who work daily for and with the community: Ioan Popa, the Mayor of Reșița Municipality, along with the technical team of the city hall, the local management of Artrom Steel Tubes company, as well as our friends and collaborators, the Amateur Filmmaker Museum.

A year full of encounters with the Furnace, with the memory, history, and community of Reșița awaits us. In the coming months, we will organize a public exhibition (offline and online), based on documentation and historical research, a study visit to Dolni Vitkovice, in the Moravia-Silesia region of the Czech Republic, and to Ignacy Historic Mine, one of the oldest coal mines in Southwest Upper Silesia, Poland, with the aim of documenting international best practices regarding the functional conversion of disused furnaces. Next, a summer school will bring together students, faculty, and specialists in architecture, urban planning, and urban regeneration to outline scenarios for the preservation and functional conversion of the furnace, with the goal of opening it to the public. And in August, from August 1st to 3rd, we are organizing the second edition of the street event Street Delivery X UrbanEye Film Festival, on Furnalelor Street and within the new "Școala Pittner" Cultural Center, to meet people and discuss the opportunity of salvaging the furnace and sustainable scenarios for its public valorization.

---

These activities are coordinated by MKBT, with the involvement and support of the Reșița Municipality and local partners Amateur Filmmaker Museum and Banatul Montan Community Foundation, as part of the project "Gathering around the last furnace".

The project is co-financed by the National Cultural Fund Administration (except for the summer school, which is financed by the Order of Architects of Romania, through the architecture stamp, and The King’s Foundation and the Reșița Municipality). The project is organized under the umbrella of Reșița 250 Lab - the urban innovation laboratory initiated in 2023 by MKBT, which acts as a catalyst for a co-creation, testing, and implementation ecosystem of urban regeneration actions in Reșița.

News and updates about this project will be communicated by the organizers on the pages www.muzeulvirtualresita.ro and on www.mkbt.ro.