**2. Climate changes**

Environmental impact on the wooden churches in Lăpuș Land is caused by the extreme weather events that have been taking place in the recent years. Climate change is continually increasing the likelihood, magnitude, and frequency of these processes which endanger these hard-to-keep values over the years [8].

The fragile paintings found inside these churches are particularly vulnerable to environmental changes. Structures, which have been standing for hundreds of years, are at risk from extreme wetting, drying, and temperature fluctuation [9].

Among the factors that significantly influence the state of degradation and endanger the future of these architectural and cultural wonders are:


*Alteration of the Cultural, Religious and Architectural Heritage from Lăpuș Land… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.105091*

risks to the historical heritage. Both sudden heavy rainfall and the cumulative impact of less intense but repeated events can be harmful. An example in this sense is the storm of 2017, which the area with extreme force, knocked down the tower of the church in Costeni. This caused a chain reaction, allowing the rain to fall inside the church, and ultimately affecting the entire structure. The restoration of the roof, the tower, and of the whole church is still in progress and requires substantial financial aid and human resources to minimize the preservation needs of the church.

• Biogeography is a topic that should not be neglected at all, because the new distribution of animals, the abundance of growing vegetation in the gardens where wooden churches are located, and the rising of pathogens, endangers the indoor and immovable heritage.

Understanding climate change's impact on heritage in Lăpuș Land requires the identification of risks. We mention some of them: inadequate or insufficient information or experience preventing appropriate actions, damage to or loss of heritage assets, harm to heritage assets from maladaptation, damage to reputation from maladjustment, inconsistent responses or failure to respond to climate change-related impacts, geological and pedological changes causing damage to wooden churches structures, harm to heritage structures from frost fracture or harm to heritage assets from wildfire.

The consequences and scale of climate change are daunting. Although unpredictable and severe weather in the form of floods and storms is likely to be an ongoing problem, continuous change will come more regularly from less severe, yet cumulatively significant, individual impacts.

Climate change is a risk factor. It exacerbates less significant threats, creating new and unforeseen challenges. Ways to prevent significant losses are mitigation and adaptation.

Heritage is not only affected by the impact of climate change, but also by our responses to it.

#### **3. Degradation/alteration/conservation/restauration**

It is difficult to say exactly when an art object enters an alteration process. All of a sudden we notice cracks and fissures that weren't there before, small pieces that come off, fine dust that spreads around, and in the case of paintings there are gaps in the design and color. It is the imperative moment when the conservation problem arises, knowing the vulnerability of heritage objects in the fight against time and aging. The environment plays a major role in the alteration process. The main factors that influence the movable and immovable cultural heritage capital are biodeterioration, temperature and humidity conditions, natural and anthropogenic pollution [10].

New restoration techniques and studies for the improvement and conservation are constantly appearing, such as magnetic or new resonance techniques or even irradiation treatments of heritage wooden objects with different radioactive sources, particularly in the case of oil painting. These methods, however, cannot always be applied in the field [11–13].

In this case, heritage risk studies are a welcoming site, as an alarm signal, before the moment of alteration, in order to bring the issue to the attention of all stakeholders in due time for mitigations to be effectively executed.

#### *Heritage - New Paradigm*

According to specialized studies, the implementation and analysis of a typical diagnostic study and structural analysis are necessary to assess the main risks affecting the property in order to result in risk indicators [14, 15].

The group of factors that participate in the degradation process and can be considered as major or minor risks for construction materials and structures, is complex and includes visual documentation of disintegration, main forms/types of disintegration, disintegration mechanisms, and intrinsic and extrinsic factors of degradation [16].

For example, the protocol of decay investigation include visual observations of the building material's state of conservation, typology of deterioration phenomena, decay mechanisms, decay intrinsic factors, and decay extrinsic factors.

In the frame of the present project, we intend to further study the extrinsic decay factors, such as structure general data, climate data, atmospheric conditions, indoor environment, biological factors, accidental actions, human impact, condition of usage, socioeconomic parameters or geotechnical frame of foundation [17].

Alteration is a common notion in relation to the passage of time. According to dictionary definition, alteration means transformation or change in the negative, involving a chemical change in the material, in the case of pigment murals, while damage involves only physical phenomena [18–20].

Degradation, a commonly used term in contemporary theory, refers to a state of actuality of the object.

Literature suggests that if the degradation occurs unintentionally, but in a positive manner, the effect is known called "patina" (involving the chemical transformation of organic or inorganic materials in the work). Over time patina has acquired a status in the aesthetic qualification of an object [18]. On the other hand, if the degradation occurs unintentionally, but in a negative manner, then we are talking about degradation [21].

From this moment, the conservation-restoration stage appears, which represents the entire action of saving a work of art from the past.

The field of restoration in Romania operates on the basis of the legislation issued in 1974, which was subsequently established by the Norms of 1982, 1993, and 2003. Following these legislative directives, the meaning of the terms Conservation and Restoration implies two distinct actions. The first involves only a preventive action on the object while the latter offers the possibility to exercise a proper curative preservation [22].

The way that conservation is carried out has suffered many changes throughout the last 50 years. There have been numerous developments in methods to measure and control environments and ways to protect objects on display and in transit [23]. But in the end, it all comes down to time and costs.

The proportion of time and effort dedicated to interventive conservation in heritage institutions appears to be decreasing. Arguments based on cost efficiency and risk reduction are sometimes employed as justification. Arguably, the situation is not straightforward and the ethical and economic arguments for doing less intervention are not always consistent or convincing [23]. Nevertheless, the degradation/ alteration has been imminent over the decades due to the socio-political conditions of the times.

The conservation-restoration of some churches to be presented hereafter has been done over many years with various funding and with numerous volunteering hours from the communities, under the careful guidance of local priests. "Patina" can be observed in just a few churches. Others were left behind for socio-administrative reasons. Their importance remains the same over the centuries whether or not the villages remain sufficiently populated. Their protection is an absolutely necessary and justified act, not only from the perspective of the object as a material value in open space but from the importance of cultural value that speaks of a Romanian nation who made efforts to keep to this geographical area, regardless of the historical context and who are now facing globalization and climate change.

Obtaining funds for conservation restoration remains a sensitive and open topic.
