Together we save the Old Market of Craiova

Friends of the Old Market of Craiova is a civic initiative group established at the end of last year to oppose the local administration's project to demolish the city's last historic market and replace it with a sports hall "like in Dubai."

The civic initiative group "Piața Veche Craiova" was formed at the end of last year when the local administration's intentions regarding the oldest area of the city became very clear – the demolition of the existing halls of the Old Market and the construction of a sports hall "like in Dubai." We analyzed the proposed project carefully and consulted with specialists and experts who confirmed our point of view – in modern architectural and urban planning practices, the historic fabric of the city cannot be ignored. The goal is not to demolish and eliminate it but, on the contrary, to preserve and enhance it. However, we found that there are difficulties in understanding what it means for the identity of the city the last historic market, "the core" of Craiova, as historian Anastasie Georgescu so eloquently named it in 1936, Our objective is to classify the area as a historical monument and to maintain its function as a food market. The first step in this direction was to create a dedicated social media page and to highlight the intangible cultural elements that add value to the entire historic neighborhood around the Old Market. For this, we conducted thorough research of newspapers and periodicals from the 19th century to the communist period, from which we extracted and published "little histories," various facts that flavor the history and bring back readers' own experiences and stories related to this place. We consulted the archives of the National Heritage Institute, where we found studies and projects for the rehabilitation of the entire Madona Dudu / Hurez / Puțureanu / Piața Veche / Sf. Dumitru area, developed by a team of local architects in the '90s. We interrupt these picturesque forays into the history of the Old Market to convened in-person meeting under the name "Friends of the Old Market of Craiova." This meeting resulted in a group of about 50 active supporters, ranging in age from under 20 to over 90 years old. Many ideas for actions and new approaches emerged in the discussions, which continued to focus on the possible future options for the Old Market and the entire area. The first example of this new direction was the urban sketching session, organized together with the magazine Cule, when several illustrators and artists held outdoor drawing sessions, visually exploring the past and future of the Old Market.