Wooden dwelling built 225 years ago named oldest house on display in a museum in Romania

The oldest house on display in a museum in Romania is a wooden dwelling from Hunedoara County, 225 years old, located in Sibiu’s Astra Museum, according to an announcement from the Sibiu County Council.

Created in 1800, the oak wood house from Țara Zarandului is coated in clay and covered with straw. It was brought to Sibiu in 1972 and has two rooms, one for resting and the other for work.

The homestead “enriches the cultural heritage of the largest open-air museum in Europe, arranged in Dumbrava Sibiului," according to the Sibiu County Council.

The house “is representative of this beautiful region of the country, known for pottery and wood processing. In fact, the village of Obârșa was also called 'the village of pots,' as ceramic products were made there, including the famous sarmale pot and the tray for potatoes," explained Ciprian Ștefan, general director of the Astra Museum, quoted in the County Council social media post.

The house was built without a single nail. Instead, the wooden pieces are made to fit together.

"First of all, choosing round oak wood was essential. Then, it was peeled and assembled without nails, based on tapering, or 'tight-fitting,' as the craftsmen called it," Ștefan added.

Visitors to the museum cannot enter the house for now, as its roof needs to be replaced. The replacement is part of restoration works that will cost around RON 200,000 (EUR 40,000).

"The historical monument will undergo conservation work mainly consisting of replacing the straw roof. We will use rye straw, from organic crops, harvested manually and threshed, which we will bring from the village of Lăzești, Alba County,” the museum official added.

He also said that two of the last craftsmen able to do the work with traditional methods will lay the straw on the house and secure them with pine branches.

(Photo source: Consiliul Judetean Sibiu on Facebook)