Objects and their stories
Objects and their stories
Despre eveniment
At the initiative of the French organizers of the European Night of Museums, we invite you to discover the hidden story of a unique selection of objects hosted by museums participating in the eighth edition of the event, which runs on Saturday, May 19, 2012. Images and stories of these special objects in Romania are available for an international audience (both in French and in Romanian or English) and can be found on the website http://www.nuitdesmusees.culture.fr, under the section “Une oeuvre, une histoire” (“A Piece of the Story)”
Because the Night of Museums is held only once a year and you cannot be in several places at once, we invite you to discover a series of objects and their stories in a virtual journey to the National Museum in Alba Iulia, Arges County Museum, National Museum of Art of Romania, National Technical Museum “Prof. engineer Dimitrie Leonida”, the National Museum of Romanian Peasant in Bucharest, County Museum of Ethnography and Caransebes Border Regiment, Museum of Mineralogy of Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Oltenia Museum Craiova, Ialomita County Museum, Museum of History Turda, National Museum of Agriculture Slobozia.
Among the pieces waiting to be discovered at the Night of Museums are very different objects, sometimes important for their value, sometimes with an unusual history, interesting, with a tradition behind or with funny details. • At the National Museum of Alba Iulia is the camera that took the only 5 photos of the Romanian Union in 1918; • The desk of Dr. Ioan Ratiu - where he is likely to have been written the Memorandum to the Court of Vienna - is a reference piece of Turda History Museum. • A noisy trash carrier car, used in Bucharest in 1900, now a curiosity housed by the National Technical Museum “Prof. engineer Dimitrie Leonida”. • A Fordson tractor produced by Ford Motor Company (USA) - with a spark ignition engine - was purchased around 1932 by Marius Barbu, professor in Arad. The tractor had quite an adventurous life up to the moment when it was purchased by the National Museum of Agriculture in 2001 Slobozia. • The Mineralogy Museum of Babes-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, with the story of the Shirokovsky Pseudo-meteorite, warns us that we must beware of counterfeits, even when fallen from heaven. • we invite you to discover also the symbol image “Revolutionary Romania” which is “decomposed” and explained by the National Museum of Art, thus convincing us as to why this painting is a real puzzle. • The Sword of Knight Ubul from the castle town of Caransebes, takes us into a world of legendary time of Richard I (the Lionheart). • Arges County Museum reveals details about collectors Aurelius and Lelia Smith, who had to sell their valuables for modest amounts, including a map of the Balkan Peninsula, dated 1584. • Ialomita County Museum presents a valuable piece of treasure: a rhyton - moulded horn shaped object - found in the sacred area of the Peak Crasani Getic settlement (Ialomita County). • One of the oldest occupations of the inhabitants of Dobruja is represented at the National Museum of Romanian Peasant, the pound nets used for fishing in shallow waters, but who could imagine and that one fisherman can handle about 80 nets? • Oltenia Museum Craiova reveals the story of a ceramic article, restored from 22 pieces of varying sizes - a skill full reconstruction of a wedding pot.
Other museums have objects with interesting stories waiting to be discovered during the Night of Museums and the rest of the year.
The Romanian objects and their stories are linked below: A map which is worth gold The Sword of the Ubul Knight Beware the fakes, even when they come from the outer space! Fordson tractor in the collection of the National Agruculture Museum The desk of Dr Ioan Raţiu Camera by which the most important photographs from the history of the Romanians were taken The Rhyton The pound net How garbage was removed from Bucharest in 1900 Revolutionary Romania
