National Museum of the Romanian Peasant reopens after consolidation, rehabilitation works

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest was reopened on Thursday, April 24, after an extensive consolidation and rehabilitation process that began in 2016. Structural, architectural, and installation works were carried out, and the total value of the investment, which included both the design and execution works, amounted to EUR 6.3 million.

Museum officials noted that the reconfigured, modern space remains faithful to its historical memory.

“Our museum is not an ethnographic one, nor is it didactic or explanatory. Our museum is a museum of peasant art or national art, as its founder Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş called it. It is a museum that glorifies the aesthetic sense of the simple man, of the anonymous peasant, a peasant who today finds it difficult to find his place in a world dominated by mass production,” said museum director Virgil Niţulescu, cited by News.ro.

The museum has a collection of over 155,000 pieces. The rooms titled Beauty of the Cross, Feast, Reflection, Relics, Windows, Time, The Cross-Tree of Life, The Power of the Cross, Icons, and The Village School were reopened for the public.

“The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant is not just a museum, but a sanctuary of faith, tradition, and authentic folk art. It is an essential landmark in the Romanian cultural landscape, where the past and present talk through objects, through stories, through emotion,” said Natalia-Elena Intotero, minister of culture.

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant continues a tradition that began in 1875, with Titu Maiorescu’s initiative to establish a textile art section with works created in rural areas, within the National Museum of Antiquities. Established as an autonomous institution in 1906 and hosted since 1912 in the current building, the museum has stood out as a landmark of traditional Romanian culture.

In 1996, the museum was awarded the prestigious EMYA (European Museum of the Year) Award, being the only museum institution in Romania to receive this recognition.

(Photo source: Florin Ghidu | Dreamstime,com)