Tansa – a place of fantasy

Tansa – a place of fantasy represents a project of the soul of the Paradis community and an important tribute that it paid to traditional Romanian values.

The main objective of the project was the revitalization of the cultural and craft area in the Tansa area, a representative place for authentic Moldova from the interwar period. This was achieved by setting up a village museum in the old post office building, rehabilitating a 100-year-old house with traditional materials to preserve the architecture and interiors specific to the area, and bringing back to the collective social mind the most important village craft, the one that made the place famous – pottery.

In the four editions of the Voluntary School from Tansa, an integral part of the Tansa – story place project, our students, together with schoolchildren from Tansa, with their teachers and, in the last two editions, with volunteers from the Musatinii Association from Roman , collected local history files in the village Museum. Together they refurbished the collected objects for the museum, renovated the space and furnished it, managed and cared for the museum. Along with the traditional objects donated by the inhabitants of the village, the students also collected their stories, of the object itself and how they reached the donor or how he donated the object. Our children had the opportunity to experience these living stories, which represent true lessons in the history of the Romanian village, and they understood that the language, the land, traditions and values are part of each of us.

Thus, the soul of the village vibrates again, through the hands, imagination and curiosity of our children, who have given the community a healing and much needed infusion of youth.

During the volunteer camp, staying in the houses of the locals and in tents, enjoying the authentic traditions (gastronomy, songs, dances and folk costumes), the children also explored the surroundings of the village – the two Orthodox churches, the old cemetery, the mansion of Marshal Prezan from Schinetea, the mansion of the politician P. P. Carp from Țibănești.

The success of the project lies in the fact that the potter’s wheel, which started turning again in Tansa, brought around a passionate and sensitive man, Mrs. Rodica Mocanu and 25 students from the Tansa School, who come every Friday to the workshop of pottery to observe, learn, love this craft and find out who their ancestors were.

We thus experience a permanent exchange of knowledge and emotions and a contagious enthusiasm to travel to our own roots.