From Reenactment to Guiding – When Experience Becomes Interpretation
Blog by Damiean Cristian
My name is Damiean Cristian, and I am a tour guide from Deva, Romania. But before becoming a guide, I was — and still am — a reenactor.
My connection with history began long before tourism became my profession. I grew up near Deva Fortress, Romania, a place I have known since childhood and which has, in one way or another, always been part of my life. For me, history was never just something to be learned from books. It was something I could see, touch and explore.
In 2008, I took my first steps into the world of historical reenactment. More than 16 years later, reenactment has become an important part of my journey. Over the years, I gradually discovered that truly understanding the past means looking beyond major events and historical dates. It means thinking about the people who lived in those times, the objects they used every day, and the way they travelled, worked and lived. This perspective brought me particularly close to everyday life in the Dacian and Roman worlds.
Over time, one of my main areas of interest became the reconstruction of ancient footwear. For me, something as simple as a pair of shoes can tell us a great deal about the people who lived in the past. Alongside my reenactment activities, I have gained experience through archaeological fieldwork and spent around ten years working in the public sector in tourism, at the Deva Cable Car.
Eventually, all these experiences came together in a natural professional direction for me: tourism guiding.
Today, I work as a tour guide, and I try to approach guiding in a slightly different way. I do not want a tour to be simply a succession of dates, names and historical facts. I want visitors to leave with the feeling that, for a few hours, they have stepped into a story. I mainly work in Deva, Hunedoara County and the wider area of the former Roman province of Dacia.
I am interested in finding ways to transform historical and archaeological heritage into a living, accessible and memorable tourism experience. At the moment, I am also working on projects such as Via Dacica Romana, a cultural tourism route of approximately 800 kilometres following important landmarks connected to the Roman world in Dacia, and Via Apulensis, an auxiliary route crossing the counties of Hunedoara and Alba.
These projects aim to connect historical sites with landscapes, local communities, gastronomy and stories that can be discovered along the way. I also continue to work on projects related to the reconstruction of ancient footwear and on the idea of creating workshops where visitors can discover this lesser-known aspect of the ancient world in a simple and engaging way.
Becoming a member of EXARC feels like a natural continuation of this journey. After more than 16 years of reenactment, I am looking forward to connecting with people who approach the past from different perspectives, but who share the same desire to make history meaningful and relevant to today’s audiences. Perhaps this is the best way to describe what I am doing now: I have moved from recreating the past to interpreting it. And as a guide, I try to do one simple thing: help people not only see a historical place, but feel its story.
All the photos are from the author.
Blog by Damiean Cristian