Bucharest
Bucharest

The creation of the Museum of Romanian Village in Bucharest took place in 1936. The project, based on the Skansen type museum, was initiated by Professor Dimitrie Gusti, from the School of Sociology (Scoala Sociologica) of Bucharest. In previous years, Gusti and his school had led numerous studies of Romanian villages, with monographic teams in charge for documenting rural habitat in the whole country. For the museum, the houses were selected accordingly to their rural nature, their regional characteristics, or their beauty. They could be old or new. They were grouped following geographical neighborhood. For Gusti, “to be rightly understood, the objects must be placed in the museum as they are in reality: not in between paintings, but in a real house; not on some stands, but in the farm yard. We need an open air museum, where the stands are the whole houses; where the houses, which are themselves museum pieces, are placed in a way such to form a real village” (Information: Jana Negoita, “Le Musée du Village”, Ed. Meridiane, Bucharest, 1987)
To give the feeling of living reality, families from the villages were to be settled in each house. Their selection was based on the following instructions: “Let’s remember that these villagers will have to welcome many visitors, they will have to explain them about their house and their life in the village. Let’s choose people who are handsome, healthy, and talkative. As well, they must be honest because they will guard the houses and households. Their dress must be authentic and beautiful. The local dress must imperatively be respected. The peasants themselves must be authentic”.