Let's visit the city where we live and let others see what we saw. It seems to me an invitation to travel, at least a virtual one.
The city of Bucharest, the capital of Romania. As in any big city in this world and here we find a variety of museums to visit, if we want to learn more about the history, art and culture of a nation.
One of the most beautiful and interesting museums in Bucharest, Romania, is the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.
A little history! The first museum was inaugurated in the early twentieth century. Since then, there have been several variants, well, two world wars and three forms of state organization have passed over them. Kingdom, communist regime and republican democracy.
*The current shape and location dates back to 1990 and was imagined, designed and led by a well-known Romanian painter, Horia Bernea.
The museum was awarded the European Museum of the Year Award in 1996 by the European Museum Forum.*
I will not present the interior of the museum. For security reasons against Covid, the vast majority of museums have been closed indoors.
Fortunately, this museum has a beautiful interior garden where many exhibits are placed in the form of a fair. Thus, visitors can buy many valuable, authentic objects of Romanian folk art.
To travel, to see and to take. To take memories with you, photos and impressions, but the most important thing is to bring home with you objects that will remind you over the years about the places you visited.
In these harder times for vacations and travels, when many museums are closed, at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant we can find an exhibition outside, in the open air. An exhibition reminiscent of fairs in the villages and towns of ancient Romania, an exhibition where anyone can buy small and large objects, authentic and old, collected from the homes of the elderly.
The way people dressed, the way they made their clothes show not only the need to protect themselves but also the need for beauty. This was the business of women in peasant households.
It is an exhibition that captures everything that can be made by traditional methods, from natural materials processed in the household. These are highly sought after objects and have higher and higher prices, folk art becoming profitable and a daily activity in many villages and cities in Romania.
Clothes don't mean everything. Romania is a country with many forests and a lot of wood. This means that processing and using wood as a raw material is one of the oldest trades. Many of the objects used in peasant households were made of wood. Now we go to the area of interest of men.
In my opinion, the most beautiful part of peasant activity, which was done by men, a real art, is pottery. All objects necessary for the preparation and serving of food. A primary need in a house full of men, women and especially children. Beyond the practical aspect, clay pots and objects evoked color and beauty in homes. The most decorative objects. No wonder they are the most sought after items to buy and make gifts.
Before leaving the area of male interest, the area where they are the most skilled, working with metals, a job of gypsies in Romania. The gypsies were the most skilled at working with gold, silver and copper. Especially when it was about objects called stills, with the help of which alcoholic beverages were obtained.
Now the children follow. Important characters in the family. Who cares most about them if not women. Women who make all kinds of goodies for children.
The approach of the winter holidays brings many products for children, from decorations for the Christmas tree to all kinds of sweets and gingerbread figurines.
For children, sweets are more important. Their mothers know this and cannot leave this fair in the museum yard without their hands full.
I started with the desire to present one of the most beautiful museums in Bucharest. Unfortunately, at this moment I could not enter the halls of the museum. I look forward to showing how special this museum is, when visitors reopen. Until then, I showed you a fair organized in the museum courtyard, it really has nothing to do with real exhibits. Here were found only objects made by traditional methods but made especially for sale. Tourists and visitors, however, appreciate the opportunity to buy gifts and souvenirs to remind them that they have passed through here. That they were here too!
Location. The Museum of the Romanian Peasant is located in Victoriei Square in Bucharest. Near the Romanian Government building. In the city center, in the most famous square in Romania, where there have been the most important civic protests so far.
