The Maramureș County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art

The Maramureș County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art is one of the emblematic public cultural institutions of the county, subordinated to the Maramureș County Council, and it includes two locations: the Pavilion Department and the Village Museum. The exhibition space of the Pavilion Department operates in the building of the former Summer Theater. Here, in two separate rooms, tourists can see the permanent exhibition as well as a temporary exhibition. The permanent exhibition, entitled "Wood in the traditional community of northern Transylvania - from cradle to grave", brings to the public's attention the process of woodworking, traditional tools, interiors of peasants’ homes, but also folk costumes, traditional ornaments, cult objects and ceramics, belonging to all the four ethnographic areas of Maramureș: Historical Maramureș, Chioarului Land, Lăpuș Land and Codrului Land. Not only the interior of this museum is surprising, but also the exterior area. Beyond the impressive landscape created by the beautiful green plain, one can also admire a set of statues consisting of 12 columns, bearing the signature of the great sculptor Vida Géza. The Village Museum, the second location of the Maramureș County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art, was inaugurated in 1984 and operates outdoors. Its patrimony includes true masterpieces of folk architecture, representative, in turn, for all four "lands" of the county. An imposing Maramureș gate makes the transition from the city to the village up the hill, having been sculpted by the famous folk craftsman Găvrilă Hotico. The traditional houses and domestic annexes from this corner of heaven, which rewrite pages from the past of Maramureș, take visitors back to an era dominated by simplicity, authenticity and beauty.