THE EVOLUTION OF THE RURAL CULTURAL LANDSCAPES IN THE SOUTHERN PART OF BUKOVINA

Abstract

Rapid and largescale changes have occurred in the rural landscapes of Bukovina as a result of the agricultural modifications that have been made in time. Due to the constant and intense agricultural work the transformation carried out by various ethnic farmers, added new layers to the cultural landscapes and have become an important part of the social construction. Some of the old traditional components of the settlement systems are well preserved, but most have disappeared, the material artefacts or the immaterial testimonies made by the Romanians, the Germans, the Jews, the Polish, the Ukrainians and the Rroma along with other migrants managed to build a complex of new cultural landscapes over the time with unique features. The notion of rural cultural landscape has developed in accordance with the historical heritage and in connection with the local environmental conditions. Analyzing various factors and some local social and historical aspects it can be taken into account as the existence of unique cultural elements and at the same time as the threat of cultural landscape possible degradation.