Exterior of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest

The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant ( ro, Muzeul Național al Țăranului Român) is a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make thes ...

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

, with a collection of

textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

s (especially

costume Costume is the distinctive style of dress or cosmetic of an individual or group that reflects class, gender, profession, ethnicity, nationality, activity or epoch. In short costume is a cultural visual of the people. The term also was tradition ...

s),

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelain ...

, and other artifacts of Romanian

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

life. One of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

's leading museums of popular arts and traditions, it was designated "

European Museum of the Year The European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA) is presented each year by the European Museum Forum ( EMF) under the auspices of the Council of Europe. The EMYA is considered the most important annual award in the European museum sector. History ...

" for 1996.

Description

Located on Șoseaua Kiseleff, near Piața Victoriei, the museum falls under the patronage of the Romanian Ministry of Culture. Its collection includes over 100,000 objects. First founded in 1906 by and originally managed by Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaș, the museum was reopened 5 February 1990, a mere six weeks after the downfall and execution of

Nicolae Ceaușescu Nicolae Ceaușescu ( , ; – 25 December 1989) was a Romanian communist politician and dictator. He was the general secretary of the Romanian Communist Party from 1965 to 1989, and the second and last Communist leader of Romania. He ...

. During the

Communist era A Communist Era is a sustained period of national government by a single party following the philosophy of Marxism–Leninism. Many countries have experienced such a period of Communist rule. Current communist states China The Chinese Communist ...

, the building housed a museum representing the country's Communist party; the museum's basement still contains a room devoted to an

ironic Irony (), in its broadest sense, is the juxtaposition of what on the surface appears to be the case and what is actually the case or to be expected; it is an important rhetorical device and literary technique. Irony can be categorized into ...

display of some artifacts from that earlier museum. The building, which uses traditional Romanian architectural features, was built on the former site of the State

Mint MiNT is Now TOS (MiNT) is a free software alternative operating system kernel for the Atari ST system and its successors. It is a multi-tasking alternative to TOS and MagiC. Together with the free system components fVDI device drivers, XaA ...

(''Monetăria Statului''). Initially intended as a museum of Romanian art, it was designed by Nicolae Ghica-Budești and built between 1912 and 1941. The building is listed as a

historic monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, his ...

by Romania's Ministry of Culture and National Identity. The museum was devastated during the

June 1990 Mineriad The June 1990 Mineriad was the suppression of anti- National Salvation Front (FSN) rioting in Bucharest, Romania by the physical intervention of groups of industrial workers as well as coal miners from the Jiu Valley, brought to Bucharest by the ...

, due to being confused with the headquarters of the

National Peasants' Party The National Peasants' Party (also known as the National Peasant Party or National Farmers' Party; ro, Partidul Național Țărănesc, or ''Partidul Național-Țărănist'', PNȚ) was an agrarian political party in the Kingdom of Romania. It w ...

. One of the museum's most famous exhibits—originally the work of Tzigara-Samurcaș—is "the house in the house". The house, which originally belonged to peasant Antonie Mogos of Ceauru village in Gorj County. From the first, the house was displayed in a non-naturalistic way: objects that would normally be in the interior were displayed in various manners outside; outbuildings were suggested by fragments. The

Communist regime A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state that is administered and governed by a communist party guided by Marxism–Leninism. Marxism–Leninism was the state ideology of the Soviet Union, the Cominte ...

displayed the house much more conventionally, outdoors at the

Village Museum The Village Museum formally National Museum of the Village "Dimitrie Gusti" (''Muzeul Național al Satului "Dimitrie Gusti"'' in Romanian) is an open-air ethnographic museum located in the King Michael I Park (Bucharest, Romania), showcasing tra ...

; it returned to the Peasant Museum in 2002. The current display at the Peasant Museum revives the original non-naturalistic approach. For example, from a platform, museum visitors may peer into the attic, part of whose wall is stripped away; various objects are arranged inside."The house in the house", wall text, Museum of the Romanian Peasant. In 2002, the museum's exhibit space was greatly expanded as the museum store and offices moved into a new building behind the old one, freeing up a considerable amount of floor space in the museum proper.

Gallery

File:Muzeul Taranului Roman, Bucuresti, sect. 1 (detaliu).JPG, The museum is built in Neo-Romanian style File:MTR Casa 3.jpg, "The house in the house" File:Bucuresti, Romania, Muzeul Taranului Roman (interior 37)(costume populare, detaliu 2); B-II-m-A-18985.JPG File:MTR animal and human costumes.jpg File:MTR Plates 1.jpg File:MTR Distaffs 1.jpg File:MTR Chairs 5.jpg File:MTR Mills 1A.jpg File:MTR Moses 2.jpg

References

External links

Museum official website
{{Authority control

Peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasant ...

Historic monuments in Bucharest Society of Romania Textile museums Decorative arts museums Ethnographic museums in Romania Cultural infrastructure completed in 1941 Neo-Brâncovenesc architecture