Museums and exhibitions
The counties of the North West of Transylvania Region are famous on the national level for the big number of museums and exhibits opened to the public eager about artistic and cultural manifestations.
In the county of Maramures there are seven museum complexes. Inaugurated in the first part of the 20th century, the County Museum of History and Archaeology of Baia Mare permanently houses the exhibits “Ceasul si timpul”(the Clock and Time), “Istoria sportului maramuresean”(History of the Maramures Sport), “Tezaurul”(Thesaurus), “Comori ale epocii bronzului din nordul Transilvaniei” (Treasures of the Bronze Age of the North of Transylvania) and “Valori patrimoniale”(Patrimonial Values).
Since 1978, in the Museum of Ethnography and Popular Art of Baia Mare are being exhibited objects of the popular art, religious objects and pieces of the popular costume.
Every day, the Museum of Art of Baia Mare welcomes the tourists with thousands of works representative for the European art of the 18th –20th centuries.
The Museum of Mineralogy of Baia Mare houses unique pieces in Romania. Now, the museum is structured on four sections: mine flowers, deposits of non ferrous metals, mineralogy and systematics of minerals and geological petrography of the North side.
The other museums from the Maramures county are the “Florean” Museum, the Memorial Museum of Sighetu Marmatiei and the Museum of Ethnography of Sighetu Marmatiei.
In Sighetu Marmatiei there are three museums: the Museum of Jewish Culture, the Ethnographic Museum of Maramures and the Museum of the Maramures Village.
In the city of Oradea (county of Bihor) there are four museums, with permanent exhibits, in basis of the specific of each objective. The Museum of Three Rivers presents the sections of history, art, ethnography and sciences of nature.
The tourists have many exhibits at their disposal from the Romanian painting from the second part of the 20th century and the numismatics exhibits up to collections of popular costume specific to the region of Maramures and paleontological exhibits.
In the county of Salaj, in Simleu Silvanei there is the first museum of Romania dedicated to the Holocaust- the Memorial Museum of Holocaust. It has been inaugurated in 2005, in the ex synagogue of the town.
The town of Zalau houses the “Ioan Sima” Art Gallery, where are exhibited the most important works of the maestro and also the County Museum of History and Art. The last presents varnishing days of popular art, plastic and ancient history.
In the city of Cluj, the tourists can visit thirteen museums important from the cultural point of view. The Museum of Pharmacy of Cluj is the first museum established in Romania where the tourists can see objects standing since the years of the oldest pharmacy of the country, established in 1710 by the G. Hintz family.
Another museum with value of national patrimony is the “Emil Racovita” Speleology Museum, unique in Romania. Established in 1998, the museum is housed in the building of the ex prison of the Medieval Cluj and exhibits the “Emil Racovita Collection” with personal objects that have belonged to the famous speleologist.
The Museum of Art of Cluj Napoca houses a series of art pieces of the 15th and 21st centuries, from fields such as painting, sculpture and decorative art. The Museum houses temporary exhibits and cultural manifestations.
In the Vivarium of Cluj, the tourists can see a permanent exhibit containing 50 species of animals: from fishes to birds, up to reptiles and amphibians.
The other museums of Cluj are the Zoological Museum, the National Museum of History, the Museum of Paleontology – Stratrigraphy and the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania.
The museum complex of the county of Bistrita-Nasaud has ten museums with a particular cultural and ethnographic value. The Museum of Bistrita exhibits collections of popular art, history and archaeology. At Sangeorz-Bai you can find the Museum of Compared Art, where every year, temporary exhibitions and cultural activities are being held. The public is invited to see a collection of contemporary art from fields such as photography, painting and graphics.
Two of the museums of Bistrita are dedicated to the life and work of the grate writer Liviu Rebreanu. We are talking about the “Liviu Rebreanu” Memorial Museum and the “Cuibul Visurilor” Museum, where you can find pieces of furniture belonging to the prose writer, letters, family photos and other things.
The county of Satu Mare attracts its tourists with a museum complex which includes many patrimonial objectives: museums, memorial houses and the Dacian pottery kilns.
In the category of the museums we have to mention the Museum of the Inhabitants of Apuseni of Scarisoara, where there are exhibited objects specific to the culture of the people of Apuseni. The Swabish Museum of Petresti, with exhibits of the daily life of the Swabish people and the the outdoor Ethnographic Museum of Marius.
Once arrived in Satu Mare, the tourists should not miss the opportunity of visiting the Art Museum. Now, the permanent exhibition has representative works from the field of contemporary Romanian plastic arts.
- 1 “Mihai Viteazul” (Michael the Brave) – rural celebration
- 2 “La fântâna dorului” (At the Sorrow Fountain) – folk festival
- 3 The Onion Festival
- 4 Negreni Fair
- 5 The Grapes Ball
- 6 Folklore and folk art afferent to the tradition of Beius Fair
- 7 The Slovakian Potatoes Holiday
- 8 Aeternus Maramorosiensis – Medieval Festival of Sighetu Marmatiei
- 9 The “Salajean Village” Festival – Porolissum
- 10 Autumn on Ierului Valley