One of the things I appreciate in a museum is The educational aspect, or what can you learn while visiting. The moment I entered the Folk and Folk Art Museum of Targu Mures I saw it's not just a usual museum you find everywhere, it was clearly visible it has something special and I got the confirmation that I'm right after a few minutes of looking around.
You can not only learn about folk costumes and traditional tools and household things that were used centuries ago, but also about what life was during the first world war.
As I've mentioned in my previous post, the minute you step into the war section, you hear missiles flying left and right, bombs exploding, people shouting and screaming, something like what usually happens in a war zone. These special effects make the experience not only more interesting but also more real. Watching a war movie is one thing, being in the middle of a war zone is a totally different thing.
On the wall you see descriptions about how life in those periods were. On this one for example you can read about how the army and the population were supplied during the first world war. All the descriptions are bilingual, Romanian and Hungarian.
To make it more interesting, the place is set up to imitate the trenches and covers that were used during the war.
On the walls there are original photos, taken during the war. Having these photos is a rarity as for security reasons, taking photos was not allowed, not to mention that cameras were not so common those days.
To make it more original, there are some interesting artifacts that you can only see in a museum. Looking back after more than 100 years, to see what tools they had at their disposal is quite shocking. The evolution since then has been huge. Nowadays wars are conducted from situation rooms and attacks are carried out by drones.
This i the original document of a soldier, proving he enrolled in the army on 12 November, 1913. He was 20 years old. The document is written in Hungarian as back then Transylvania was still part of Hungary.
This is the saddest of all. A hand written letter sent to a family, letting them know their beloved son was no longer among the living. Imagine the family getting an official letter by mail. It must have been terrible, not to mention that dose fallen soldiers probably were not brought back home.
Soldiers cutting wood to build something necessary.
Cutlery used in the Austro-Hungarian army, says the paper, but it wasn't used just by the army. My grandmother had a set just like that.
A first aid kit that was used in the first world war, a very interesting one.
Every unit had a priest that had the duty t help those in difficulty. There are some tools they used.
A wooden medical box with the red cross sign on it, that had to be carried by two men or by a carriage. Unfortunately supplies were very often scarce or missing, so they had to work miracles to keep soldiers alive. On the wall a sketch of a very common situation. Soldier with a lower leg missing.
This was one of my favorite part. A wall created by bags. Trenches usually were lined with bags filled with sands and covers were also build using these bags. The museum organizers did a really great job to create an original setup.
Sometimes, when it was quiet, they had some fun as well, if drinking beer and singing can be called fun.
More artifacts, transformed into decorative objects. These shells are sold at a high price online and at flea markets.
These are postcards sent by soldiers from the war. These were specially printed for the army and have the characteristics of those times. The first postcard of the Mures region was issued in 1897 or so and was not divided. As you can see on the first postcard the sender and the recipient's address covers all the postcard. The other side was probably for the message.
These postcards were heavily censored to avoid information leaking. Those that contained unwanted information were intercepted and destroyed. Sometimes to avoid detection, the hidden message was written on the back of the stamp. To stop this technique, the army created a special stamp, like the one you see on these postcards, just ink on paper. I know quite a lot about old postcards and it's interesting to see the evolution.
If you've missed my previous posts about this museum, you can check them here:
