The Albeşti Limestone: a geoheritage and cultural heritage in Romania

The paper explores and documents the Eocene limestones from the Albeşti village (Argeş County, Romania) in terms of the relationship between geology, geoheritage and cultural heritage. Known as the Albeşti Limestone/Stone, this rock, extracted from small quarries, has been used for centuries in the construction of an impressive number of public buildings, monuments, houses, etc. Nowadays, many of them are on the List of the Historical Monuments of Romania; one is a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site (Horezu Monastery, Vâlcea County). The findings of this research are synthesized and presented in several maps resulted from integration of published and unpublished data with our field survey. The study emphasis the Albeşti Limestone both as an important geoheritage (the Albeşti Nummulitic Limestone Nature Reserve, established in 1954) and a significant heritage stone of national interest that could have a substantial role in heritage preservation, geoeducation, and geotourism development.

本论文围绕罗马尼亚阿尔杰什县阿尔贝什蒂村的始新世灰岩，探讨并记录了地质学、地质遗产与文化遗产三者间的关联。这种被称为阿尔贝什蒂灰岩（阿尔贝什蒂石材）的岩石，经小型采石场开采后，数百年来被广泛用于建造大量公共建筑、纪念设施与民居等。如今，其中诸多建筑已被列入罗马尼亚历史纪念建筑名录；其中一处（沃尔恰县的霍雷祖修道院）更是被列为联合国教科文组织（UNESCO）世界遗产。本研究通过整合已发表、未发表数据与实地调查资料生成多幅地图，以此综合呈现研究成果。本研究着重强调，阿尔贝什蒂灰岩既是重要的地质遗产（1954年设立的阿尔贝什蒂货币虫灰岩自然保护区），也是极具国家价值的标志性遗产石材，可在遗产保护、地质教育与地质旅游发展中发挥重要作用。