NEAR THE EXISTING STONE,
WE SHOULD ADD ONE AND NOT DESTROY!
Engineer ION SIMIONESCU
Technical Director at the Cement and Asbestos Factory in Fieni
(1975-1989) and Honorary Citizen of the City
Leading by example matters a lot, and I did not accept things by half. I was arriving at 5 am at work and I was leaving at 10 pm. The industry was into a continuos movement, including Saturday and Sunday. The Fieni Cement Factory was ranked as the first in the sector, considered to be the start-up point laboratory for the development of Romanian cement technology. Everything that was introduced at national level was firstly experienced at Fieni. Our cement plant was the amiral cement industry in Romania, a model for the other factories in the country. Our specialists were going abroad to work for the capitalist factories.
The Cement and Asbestos Factory developed in several stages. The most thriving stage began in 1975 when this first cement factory in the country developed a technology line of 3000 tons clinker / day, while the other ones had lower outputs and cost-effective processes. The new technological line has made the most progress, with the enterprise expanding 60% over the past (up to 1,200,000 tons of cement / year). This line has reached the projected parameters 6 months ahead of schedule. Technological line development has played an important role in the development of ancillary sectors that were supposed to support the mechanics, electricity, or power supply.
Source: 100 years of cement at Fieni (2014)
The concrete cement manufacturer was passed on from father to son, with almost the entire family being engaged in this industry. Cement, lime and asbestos products (plates, tubes, etc.) were produced. The gypsum plant distributed raw materials to other factories in the sector. The activity was complex. From the Lespezi quarry, the limestone was transported with cable railways, a pretentious and vulnerable installation, until it was passed on to the conveyor belt that is still in operation. If at first we used to work with fronts 300 m high and the hammer rock broke, then we moved on to the mechanized activity by descending 30 m in steps. After the revolution, however, the activity in the cement industry has diminished.
Society was different before 1990. Cultural activity was developed and alive because there were many artistic groups. The community was thriving. At the end of the factory program, the town was invaded by people on the streets leaving the two production units, and more than 3000 employees at each of the two factories (Cement and Electric Star). Now you no longer meet anyone on the street.
Moving to the capitalist economy means dividing the activities between several companies, often being a tough capitalism for which only the economic benefit counts. When the importance of the industry diminished in Fieni, so did the local community. The population today is aging, shrinking, on the road of exhaustion.
Creating jobs is, at the moment, of primary importance and would help bring back those who have left. However, there is a need for involvement in the development of the town. The industry has participated with the pick at the flowering of the city.
The prospects for Fieni’s development are out there. Extending the Pietroşita railway line by penetrating the mountains to Sinaia would mean an economic opening. The tunnel would lead to rail traffic, but also to new jobs and … maybe those who left will return. The town would thus return to a more natural way of life. Another direction could be the development of more than the present cement industry and, why not, the reactivation of the bulb factory. A faster path, however, would be the development of tourism in the area, as an alternative to the Prahova Valley, by diversifying the accommodation base and introducing Lespezi’s quarry into the tourist circuit. But, in order for these to happen, there should be a will for all this…
“WHAT GOES AROUND,
COMES AROUND!”
Source: www.cosr.ro
OLGA HOMEGHI
Holder of two Olympic titles, in 1984 (Los Angeles),
at coxed four with coxswain (4+), and in 1988 (Seul), at coxed pair without coxswain, and Honorary Citizen of the City
Fieni is a small beautiful town where I decided to come back in 2000. Perhaps this was my fate or maybe the fact of missing my golden shores brought me back, after 38 years of living in Bucharest. Here is where I found my inner peace and I began a new life.
I fondly remember my childhood, a childhood full of friendship and loved ones. I remember those times, with people working in three shifts at the local factories (both of my parents worked in the industrial field) and the town that came to life at every shift change. I remember the fact that there were more young people, that we liked working (I did also a traineeship at the Light Bulbs Factory) and that we enjoyed more what we had at that time.
Source: www.cosr.ro
Today there is a lack of young people in town. Most of them go to Bucharest or abroad in search of a better life. In most of the cases, they don’t even think about coming back to their birthplace. Fieni would need a young lease of life, even a modernisation process. The town requires a better implementation of its industrial heritage, namely the creation of some spaces open to the public that would tell the story of the Cement and Light Bulbs Factories. Also, it is very important, in my opinion, to keep these industries alive, not only through what was in the past, but also by ensuring the continuity of the manufacturing activity.
Last, but not least, we need engaged citizens, people who want to help the town in which they live, to engage in cleaning up the town and promoting it. It is not enough to expect receiving something from the authorities, you must also give something in return. This is the only way to revive the locked spirit of the town.
FIENI – PAST AND PRESENT
GEORGIAN LINSU
Consultant within the Romanian Parliament
Fieni represents the most important place for me, it is the place where I was born and where I have lived. I am very fond of Fieni and I wouldn’t see myself living elsewhere. Even though many young people of the town have chosen to move elsewhere, remaining or not in contact with Fieni, myself, for the moment, I decided to stay here, and maybe in the future as well, because this is the place where I find myself and where I would like my children to grow as well.
It is true that there is a certain nostalgia for the past years, for the years when the town represented an economic force. Over 9000 people worked here, and the factories were exporting products on 5 continents. The working shifts hours used to transform the town in a real swarm, everything caught life, there was an atmosphere we rarely meet today. The factories of the town were marking the way of living in Fieni and they were offering multiple benefits to the community in the same time.
Unfortunately, nowadays, the factories have restricted their activity, for the most part, the youth is leaving the town, and opportunities are increasingly lower for those who stay. Life has become quite monotonous, and many young people have left for going to Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Brașov or different countries in Europe.
But, there exist two symbol activities which could reactivate the cultural and sportive life of the town and which could also revitalize it: the football and bowling competitions. The Cement Fieni Stadium and the Bowling Arena are two places which could reset the local population to common action. Let’s not forget that the Cement Fieni football team was one of the oldest team of the B Division (activating since 1936) while the town bowling team was even a world, European and Balkan champion. Over 8000 people were coming to Fieni in order to watch the football team matches. Even today there are nostalgic people who would like to see these activities revitalized.
Also, the town would need a museum of industry that could include the golden years of Fieni and in order to recall the reasons for which it represented, at a certain point, one of the most important industrial towns of Romania.