Much of our sightseeing in Romania’s capital Bucharest was spent simply wandering, but there were a couple of museums we were told we should visit. The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, or Muzeul Național Târanului Român, was one of them.
It was located at the northern end of Calea Victoriei, the main street running through the city, and although we could have taken the metro, we felt walking was a good way to explore the area.
As with many places, there was a reduced entrance fee for pensioners, and here it was a whopping 75% less, as we paid 4 Lei or £1.34 each, instead of 16 Lei.
The museum comprised of several ground floor rooms, off both sides of the main entrance. The entrance of each room had an information card, in Romanian and English, explaining the room’s theme, but the individual exhibits were unlabelled. I read later that ‘The objects will be linked to each other through relationships that labels would disturb’. Whilst that maybe true, there were occasions when I wanted to know what something was.
The rooms covered regional traditional dress, weavings, furniture, ceramics etc. I particularly liked a section on communist iconography, where collages depicted a face painted in several styles. The museum was also our initial introduction to the painted egg featuring traditional motifs and symbols, which are a significant part of Romanian Easter celebrations.
Each room, except one, had a painted egg and a distaff on the east wall. The explanation told us they were ‘The same, but so different, these objects speak of the everyday and the festive, of the feminine and the masculine, of immediate reality and the world beyond’. Hmm . . . .
A rear courtyard had an extensive market full of stall selling souvenirs, bric a brac, foods and crafts.
Through a large restaurant we found the highly recommended gift shop, said to be one of the best in Bucharest. However, as we were at the beginning of a month-long trip, we decided it was too early for shopping, particularly for delicate painted eggs.
The museum is closed on Monday and Tuesday.
