New beginning awaits, thirty years after Romanian Peasant Museum reopens

Manager of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (MNTR) Virgil-Stefan Nitulescu said on Tuesday that 30 years after the reopening of the museum on February 5, 1990, a new beginning awaits its team, currently working on reopening MNTR's permanent exhibition. "February 5, 1990 represents to us the moment of a new beginning. It is similar, if you will, to the moment of the new beginning for Romania recorded in 1989. Because under the communist regime our museum, which opened in 1906 based on an existing collection dating back to the late 19th century, was disbanded and its collections were scattered away. We went back to the building that had been built from the beginning for us and we started from scratch, fortunate to be led by a team of wonderful people, like Horia Bernea. That resulted in an exhibition that to this day is a cultural landmark for the whole of Europe," Nitulescu told AGERPRES. He voiced hope that the museum's permanent exhibition will be rebuilt by the end of the year. "Our museum is still the only museum in Romania to win in 1996 the most prestigious museum award in Europe. After 30 years we are facing a new beginning, because we have to reconstruct the permanent exhibition of the museum, which was closed for the time when the building, a historical monument, was under refurbishment. We hope to succeed by the end of this year," said Nitulescu. He announced that Wednesday, on the 30th anniversary of the reopening, the 2019 issue of the "Martor" magazine, the museum's publication, will be released. There will be the opening of an exhibition dedicated to the Romanian blouse, the ie, mounted together with the Embassy of Moldova in Bucharest, and the screening of a series of films about the cultural heritage of Romania, including "Nunta la Leresti" (Marriage at Leresti) (1976, 22 min, directed by Eugenia Gutu), included on the Sahia Vintage V DVD, under the care of One World Romania. The Embassy of Moldova in Romania is inviting the public for the launch of an album dedicated to the genuine Romanian blouse, whose author is Stela Moldovanu of Moldova. The launch will be accompanied by an exhibition of authentic, hand-sewn blouses under a Moldovan project involving over 100 women and a man passionate about sewing. Running at the museum's cinema hall, from 19:00hrs to 20:30hrs, there will be films dedicated to the seven things from Romania inscribed in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity: the Calus ritual; doina; the traditional ceramics of Horezu; men's group colindat, Christmas-time ritual; lad's dances; traditional wall-carpet craftsmanship; cultural practices associated to the 1st of March. On February 5, 1990, the Roadside Museum reopened under a new name, the Romanian Peasant Museum. It has gained recognition thanks to the vision of its founder, Horia Bernea, being the only author museum in Romania and a place favorable to individualities. It is also one of the few museums in the country whose intangible heritage is revised and reinterpreted in the artistic projects of some of its specialists. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)