Landscape Practices and Habitation in Buzău Land

In this chapter, the authors discuss three different but interconnected aspects of the cultural landscape of the Buzău Land: natural resources, traditional activities and livelihood, starting from concrete, practical elements as well as from cultural symbols and meanings. The local natural resources (wood, salt, stone, mineral waters, mineral oil springs, amber, plants) have enabled the local people to survive for hundreds of years without great prosperity, but at low cost and with the preservation of biodiversity. Traditional activities have always been organically adapted to these resources. The houses are built using archaic techniques, taking care of the environment, but at the same time according to a vision of life that transcends the material realm. The house, seen as the “centre of the world,” reflects the inhabitants' conceptions of earth and sky, life and death.