POST-REVOLUTION ROMANIA, 1990: The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant (MNTR)

On February 5, 1990, then Minister of Culture Andrei Plesu reopened the the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, naming painter Horia Bernea its director. One of the greatest contemporary Romanian painters, whose exhibitions in the country and abroad have remained as permanent reference points in the field, Bernea was born in Bucharest, on September 14, 1938. From 1990 until his death in 2000, he was director of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, contributing to the redefinition of ethnomuseology in Romania, according to www.eminescuipotesti.ro. "I was appointed and maybe God gave me this gift, to make a museum about something old. Make a museum in the sense of intuiting it, picturing it, giving it a spirit. At the core of our museum I put the peasant ‘icon' and added peasant to its name. I am dominated by the strong faith in the values of the peasant art, its validity and the respect for these people who did not know how to defend themselves." ("Cateva ganduri despre cantitati, mentalitate si incrucisare"/Some thoughts about quantities, mentality and crossover, Horia Bernea, CRUCEA file, Romanian Peasant Museum, 1993; www.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro.) After a series of temporary exhibitions, only in the spring of 1993 was the museum opened with a first part of the permanent exhibition, placed under the generous sign of the Cross. Halls with icons followed in 1994, and in 1996 the inauguration of the museum floor, under the significant title "Triumph". In 1996, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant received the European Museum of the Year (EMYA ) award for the originality of its exhibition and for the way in which the museum's actions were presented to the public. It was for the first time that the prestigious award went to a country in Eastern Europe. Painter Horia Bernea is a class of 1958 graduate of the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Bucharest, a class of 1962 graduate of the Technical School of Architecture and Constructions, and a class of 1965 graduate of the Pedagogical Institute - Drawing Department. He made his debut in 1966, together with Paul Negulescu and others, at Cenaclul Tineretului of the Union of Visual Artists. In 1967 he mounted his first personal exhibition in Bucharest. There were personal and group exhibitions between 1967-1998 in Bucharest, The Hague, Budapest, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, and Paris. He is the recipient of numerous prizes including the Painting Prize of the Union of Romania's Visual Artists (UAP) (1970); Stahly Prize at the Paris Biennale (1971); Prize of the "Art" journal (1972); the Ion Andreescu Prize of the Romanian Academy (1978); the great prize of the UAP (1983); the prize for exceptional contribution to the recovery of the spiritual traditions of the peasant civilization, granted by the Romanian Cultural Foundation (1994); the George Apostu Grand Prize awarded by the Bacau International Centre for Culture and Arts in (1995); the Group for Social Dialogue's prize for the promotion of civil society and the rule of law, posthumously awarded in 2000; a member of the For Merit Order in the rank of Great Cross awarded by Romania's President in 2000. The National Museum of the Romanian Peasant is the continuator of the Museum of Ethnography, National, Decorative and Industrial Arts established under Royal Decree 2777 of July 13, 1906, signed by King Carol I. Then Church Minister Mihail Vladescu appointed ethnographer Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcas director of the museum. The organisation operated on the site of the former State Mint until 1912, when the cornerstone of what was to become the "neo-Romanian" building of the Roadside Museum was laid. The name was changed to the Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcas Museum of Ethnography and National Arts, as the old name that was deemed 'unnecessarily complicated.' Later, it became the Carol I National Arts Museum. Architect Nicolae Ghica-Budesti was the one who was entrusted with drawing up the blueprint for the building that was to house the museum and co-ordinating the works. The building is representative of the neo-Romanian style that draws from traditional Romanian architecture, especially the Brancovan style, and it is noted by the expressiveness of composition as a whole. Floral and zoomorphic decorative elements were used in a balanced way that together with the red brick masonry, perforated elements, the columns of the lodge, the balustrade, the large arched windows, the silhouette of the central tower, give to the building that importance of a true palace of art. After endless interruptions, works completed in 1941, with the building taking on its current appearance. In the 1960s, offices and related rooms were added, independent of the stylistic elements of Nicolae Ghica-Budesti's conception. The new construction, located behind the building, is peculiar for its big-sized mosaic reflecting its times. In 1953, it was named the Lenin-Stalin Museum, then the Museum of the Romanian Communist Party. The collections were relocated for a while to Stirbey Palace on Calea Victoriei, where they formed the Museum of Folk Art of the Socialist Republic of Romania, after which they were moved to the storerooms of the Village Museum. In 1978, it merged with the Village Museum under the name of the Museum of the Village and Folk Arts. On February 5, 1990, it reopened as the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant. The heritage of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant consists of almost 90,000 items gathered in several collections: ceramics (18,000 items), folk costume (20,000 items from all the Romanian provinces, starting with the early mid-19th century), interior fabrics made of linen, hemp, cotton, raw silk (nearly 10,000 items), woolen fabrics (over 7,000 items), wood, furniture and ironwork (nearly 8,000 items), church objects (almost 4,000 items - glass and wood icons, icon prints, woodcuts, vestments, vessels and other objects for liturgical use, triptychs and crosses). The ceramic in the museum's collection is representative of the nearly 200 pottery centres of Romania, including Horezu, Vama, Curtea de Arges, Leheceni, Barsa, Marginea, Radauti and Fagaras. In 1991, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant took under its protection the wooden churches of Grosii Noi, Julita and Troas (Arad) and Lunca Motiilor (Hunedoara). The collections of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant are displayed in an innovative and original way, with most of the objects being presented to the public freely, no labels. A museum of an experimental nature, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant is constantly trying new ways of showcasing its collections. At the same time, the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant tries to stay relevant through temporary exhibitions and its old and recent collections, as well as by organising traditional fairs on the important holidays of the Romanians, by promoting the "products of the Romanian peasants," its activities dedicated to children and diverse host of cultural actions (book launches and debates, anthropological concerts and films, colloquiums and cultural evenings, etc.). The 12th edition of the Days of the Museum of the Romanian Peasant was held on September 12-22, 2019, comprising a series of events, including an exhibition of tapestry and textile collage, "Cela Neamtu. RESTITUIRI," a trade fair of icon and cross craftsmen, European Heritage Days, a conference by Viviana Iacob on the digitisation of the Aurel Bauh collection, film screenings as part of the ANONIMUL 16 Retrospect, the Pelicula Festival and A Century of Romanian Filmmaking event in Bucharest, as well as the 100 Romanian Traditions Trade Fair. AGERPRES (RO - documentalist: Irina Andreea Cristea, editor: Liviu Tatu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)