The Village Museum in Grădiştea opens its doors on a public holiday

02.09.2011

The librarian in Grădiştea, Ilie Fârtat, wanted to open a museum for years, but couldn’t find the right location. Now, that dream has come true. “The museum is located in the commune’s park. Lots of locals came to attend the opening and visit the museum. During the ceremony, pupils of the Grădiştea High School put on a show for everyone”, RECL manager Liviu Diţoiu says.

In turn, mayor Ilie Boiangiu considers that by opening this cultural institution, local ethno-cultural values will be better preserved during this time of excessive globalisation.

Objects found in attics

For years, Ilie Fârtat has tried to get an old house to host the museum, with support from the City Hall leadership. One of the six historic monuments in Grădiştea was a nice room with two stories, more than 100 years old, which could have been turned into a museum on the spot or by relocating it. However, owners did not want to sell or donate it, but since they were not allowed to destroy it, they didn’t take care of it, hoping it will fall down, and the land will remain free.

Then, the local councillors and the mayor turned their attention to another typical home for Grădiştea, a typical peasant home with a veranda and two rooms used for sleeping and dining. The home is also more than 100 years old. It was taken apart piece by piece and restored in an adequate location so that it can work as a museum.

“We gathered furniture and objects so that children and young people could have a place to come and see how people sued to live, to understand things that otherwise they could not know. And in fact they do not know these things! We tried to gather the entire inventory of objects such a homestead would have. We had a dowry chest donated from a teacher. We also have old ceramics, kitchen utensils, a loom, a sleigh, a cart, garden tools. We did not pay; they were offered by people thrilled with the ideas”, the librarian said. Each object will be labelled with the donor’s name.

Among the best items in the museum is the collection of fabrics representing the main decorative element of the interior, being laid on furniture, walls or beams. “Wool fabrics are have been put up on the wall next to the bed, being home-made. People used to put on the walls, next to the bed or shelves, home-made carpets. Weavings of wool, hemp, linen, cotton or silk used to dominate the interior of houses in Grădiştea”, Ilie Fârtat explains.

PAPI, in charge of promotion

RECL employees will create CDs with photo galleries and articles regarding local history and culture, according to RECL manager Liviu Diţoiu. Other materials might be posted on the City Hall’s website, which is administered by him, and on eComunitate. The existing equipment at PAPI might be used to create posters, flyers, photos and informative materials, which will be distributed on paper or online.

Grădiştea first appeared in a written document in 1489, but the settlement appears to be more than 2,000 years old. Nearby people found ruins of an old Dacian castle. “When I was young there still were some ruins, we used to play football with other children. Since then, however, people used everything they found as construction materials and now really nothing is left. One can only see the circular footprint of the former well. There was a castle here, that was burned down during the first Dacian-Roman war. Later, somewhere close, in a place called Straja, Romans built an observation point. From there one can see very well the Olteţul Valley. Here, the place is only used by shephards”, Ilie Fârtat says.

Similar KEP initiatives

An increasing number of PAPI centres are getting involved in promoting these museums, showing a great interest for culture, generally, and especially Romanian heritage, from KEP community members.

No less than 10 museum in the countryside or small cities in the west of Romanian, in the former region of Partium, nowadays Crişana, today have a common presentation portal created by the manager of PAPI Şimian, Alexandru Csorba. The www.partiumimuzeumok.ro has three sections, in Romanian, Hungarian and English. It presents useful information and photos about 10 museum in Crişana, so that tourists planning a vacation in that beautiful region discover less known cultural treasures.

PAPI Târgu Frumos started to advertise the “Museum of Trades” created by professor Dan Fripis, who wanted to keep in the public memory professions and people who, although not historic personalities of culture or sciences, had a decisive contribution to the development of the city. A first step was including a presentation of the museum on the City Hall website.

The PAPI in the commune of Nistoreşti helps promote the local folklore by advertising online the museum that Mihai Hanu, an artisan with a passion for history and authentic tradition, has set up in his own home.

The PAPI initiatives to promote authentic values include a museum unique in Europe – the Glass Icons Museum in Sibiel, Sibiu, an unusual museum of communications equipment of radio-amateur Vasile Durdeu from Sânpaul, Cluj, or the mine-museum in Aninoasa(Hunedoara), a project financed mostly by the World Bank.

Online resources:

PAPI Şimian creates a portal for Crişana museums