Cea de-a 48 a ediție a sărbătorii ‘Peșterii Topolnița’, eveniment organizat de Primăria Cireșu, Consiliul Județean Mehedinți și Centrul Cultural Nichita Stănescu (2011)
Foto: (c) JUSTIN STAVARU/ AGERPRES ARHIVA

Evenimentul se desfășoară mereu pe platoul situat în apropierea uneia dintre intrările în adâncuri, unde apa râului Topolnița se rostogolește domol în galerii, prin portalul Prosacului, înalt de 67 metri, pentru a ieși ceva mai departe, la 11.000 de metri, prin gaura lui Ciocîrlie, a declarat pentru AGERPRES, duminică, primarul comunei Cireșu, localitate în perimetrul căreia se află peștera, Doru Tîrlui.

“Peștera Topolnița a fost semnalată pentru prima oară în istorie în anul 1880 sub denumirea Tunelul lui Marga de un anume cercetător V.Dumitrescu, care a și considerat-o cea mai lungă din țară și a 17-a în lume ca mărime. Explorarea ei a fost făcută însă în anul 1956 de profesorul severinean Sever Popescu care a descoperit așa numitul culcuș al vidrelor”, a explicat Țîrlui.

El a arătat că această peșteră este legată de monumental carstic Epuran prin șase galerii prin care nu a trecut niciodată un om de rând întrucât, se pare, la fiecare pas sunt capcane tainice care blochează accesul în “pădurile” de stalagmite descoperite începând cu anul 1962 de specialiști ai Institutului de Speologie “Emil Racoviță” al Academiei Romane.

“Din păcate, nicio galerie nu este electrificată. Din această cauză nimeni nu se încumetă să intre fără ghid. Anual, turiștii, când avem această sărbătoare, pot pătrunde aproape 100 de metri doar într-o singură zi în unele sectoare subterane cum ar fi Loja, Pădurea de Lumânări, Sala Piticilor și Lacul de Cleștar, Marele dom stalagnitic. Galeria Emil Racoviță este cea mai impresionantă formațiune speologică din Carpați, are 1.900 de metri. Aici s-au descoperit urme umane datând din neolitic și sunt conservate formațiuni fosiliere unice în lume”, a mai spus Țîrlui.

În Peștera Topolnița temperaturile sunt între 8,2 și 10,8 grade Celsius, valoarea ei fiind dată de speleotermele imense, de cavernamentul gigantic, de cursul subteran de apă, de fauna subterană și coloniile de lilieci, de mulțimea de lacuri, de formațiunile impresionante de stalactite și stalagmite, de abisuri nebănuite, labirinturi, torenți și cascade subacvatice.

“Rețeaua de galerii este dispusă pe patru nivele: două fosile, unul subfosil și unul activ. Are cinci guri de acces: Gura Prosacului, Gura lui Ciocîrlie, Peștera Femeii — deschidere situata la circa 85 m deasupra nivelului actual de curgere al Topolniței, și cele două deschideri de la Găurinți. Se deosebesc trei sectoare legate între ele: sectorul Peștera Femeii, sectorul Sohodol și sectorul propriu-zis al Peșterii Topolnița, format dintr-o rețea de culoare din care pornesc cele trei galerii mari: Racoviță, Murgoci și Prosacului. Sectorul Peștera Femeii este alcătuit din mai multe culoare — Liliecilor, Coloanelor, Drept, Vetrelor, frumos oncretionate, parțial distruse de vizitatorii ocazionali și de curenții de aer. Intrarea în sectorul Peșterii Topolnița este marcat de culoarul verde unde a fost indentificate și denumite sălile Guano, Culoarul C.N. Ionescu, Culoarul dintre Săli, Sala Mare, Culoarul Uriașilor, Culoarul cu Pripor — cu multe stalagmite, Galeria Emil Racoviță, bogat ornamentată cu formațiuni de calcit, de tip coloană, de o rară frumusețe, Culoarul Suspendat, Culoarul Staicu, Sala Confluențelor, Culoarul Răsucit , Culoarul Speranței. Galeria Murgoci, cu peste 1.200 m lungime, este lipsită de concrețiuni și are cele două capete închise cu sifoane. Sectorul Sohodol este format din culoare fosile, subfosile și active: Culoarul cu Spirală, Culoarul cu Marmită, Culoarul cu Săritori, Culoarul Surprizelor, Culoarul cu Diaclaze, Culoarul Faliilor”, a adăugat Țîrlui.

Edilul comunei Cireșu speră că sărbătoarea Peșterii Topolnița, aflată în prezent la cea de a 50 ediție, va deveni un pretext pentru valorificarea întregului potențial carstic al munților Mehedinți și că va atrage în aceste locuri, aflate doar la aproximativ 60 de kilometri de Drobeta Turnu Severin, zeci de iubitori de tradiții montane, mai ales că în fiecare an localnicii organizează în vecinătatea acesteia un târg tradițional cu produse alimentare și meșteșugărești. El spune că și serbarea câmpenească, susținută de artiști amatori, va continua să adune în preajma Peșterii Topolnița mii de iubitori de folclor autentic românesc, “ceea ce înseamnă că întotdeaua ființa românească va avea pe lângă tinerețe, eternitate”.

AGERPRES/ (A — autor: Florian Copcea, editor: Cristina Tatu)

Foto: casadex.ro
Potrivit portalului imobiliar casadex.ro, proiectul a fost premiat cu 10.000 de dolari, în concursul Life Edit, lansat de Graham Hill, fondatorul platformei online TreeHuger, care promovează proiecte sustenabile.

Garsoniera este, totodată, și un prototip în baza căruia ar urma să fie construite mai multe blocuri cu apartamente de mici dimensiuni pe teritoriul Statelor Unite, precizează sursa citată.

AGERPRES/(AS — editor George Andrei)

“Zilele acestea, mai ales azi (vineri, n.r.) au fost cozi kilometrice. Am avut de trei ori mai mulţi donatori decât în zile obişnuite. Este foarte bine, dar avem nevoie de donatori constanţi, pentru că sunt spitale care consumă tone de sânge şi mă refer numai la Bucureşti”, a spus Andrei Rosin. Potrivit directorului, mai sunt spitale care încă reclamă lipsă de sânge.

“Numai la Spitalul Fundeni sunt 30 de copii cu leucemie care necesită zilnic produse de sânge. Vorbesc numai de copii cu leucemie. Mai este Institutul inimii «C.C. Iliescu» – tone de sânge, la transplantul de ficat se suge sânge cum n-am pomenit. Apoi, spitalele Sf Ioan, Bagdasar, Floreasca, Colţea”, a arătat Rosin

El a atras însă atenţia că, dacă ar veni toată populaţia Bucureştiului să doneze, nu ar avea unde, lăudând ideea ministrului Sănătăţii Nicolae Bănicioiu de a deschide două centre din toamnă.

Ministrul Sănătăţii, Nicolae Bănicioiu, a anunţat, joi, că va reînfiinţa centrele mari de donare din spitale, închise acum trei ani, începând cu Spitalul Fundeni, în septembrie, şi continuând cu Spitalul Universitar şi Bagdasar.

La începutul acestei săptămâni, ministrul Sănătăţii a făcut un apel către cetăţeni să doneze sânge, având în vedere sesizările primite privind deficitul de sânge şi produse de sânge din unele unităţi sanitare.

La apelul lansat săptămâna aceasta de Ministerul Sănătăţii, care anunţa că este criză de sânge în majoritatea spitalelor, au răspuns astăzi şi militari şi agenţi ai poliţei locale. Alţii au fost împinşi să doneze, însă, nu datorită simţului civic, ci din cauza situaţiei financiare. Donatorii beneficiază de 7 bonuri de masă, 50% gratuitate la transportul public, iar angajaţii cu carte de muncă primesc o zi liberă de la serviciu.

Doina Goşa, manager centrul de Transfuzii şi Hematologie Bucureşti: “Nu avem program de weekend, iar personalul a lucrat foc continuu saptamana aceasta si este foarte obosit. Oamenii, daca ar fi platiţi, eu consider ca ar veni, avand in vedere faptul ca salariile sunt mici”. Astfel, deşi în weekend numărul celor care ar putea să doneze ar fi triplu, centrele de transfuzii vor rămâne închise.

Donatorii de sânge trebuie să aibă între 18 şi 60 de ani, greutate peste 50 kg, puls regulat, 60 -100 bătăi/minut, tensiune arterială sistolică între 100 şi 180 mmHg, să nu fi suferit în ultimele şase luni intervenţii chirurgicale, să nu fi consumat grăsimi sau băuturi alcoolice cu cel puţin 48 de ore înaintea donării, sa nu fie sub tratament pentru diferite afecţiuni (hipertensiune, boli de inima, boli renale, boli psihice, boli hepatice, boli endocrine), iar femeile să nu fie: însărcinate, în perioada de lăuzie sau în perioada menstruală. Totodată, donatorii nu trebuie să aibă sau să fi avut următoarele boli: hepatită (de orice tip), TBC, sifilis, malarie, epilepsie si alte boli neurologice, boli psihice, tuberculoză, ulcer, diabet zaharat, boli de inimă, boli de piele (psoriazis, vitiligo), miopie peste (-) 6 dioptrii şi cancer.

Bucharest herald

Photo credit (c): Muzeul National Brukenthal

‘We want to draw attention, starting this year, that in 2017 we will celebrate Baron Brukenthal as well as 200 years of the museum’s activity. The Brukenthal Museum was born as a collector’s museum that was donated to the community. This is how we prepare for 2017, with a museum that addresses the community, a museum that follows the things around it. After 2017, 2021 will come when we celebrate the 300th birth anniversary of Brukenthal , when we return to a classical museum. This is a dialogue with the community, with visitors and with the world. Cultural heritages cross boundaries, continents and time. (…) I begin to feel good at Brukenthal as worlds are congregating,’ says Sabin Luca, director of the Brukenthal National Museum.

Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803) was the only representative of the Transylvanian Saxon community to whom major public offices in the Austrian Empire were entrusted under Empress Maria Theresa, with the first such office having been aulic councillor of Transylvania. His time spent in Vienna in this capacity coincided with the formation of his collection of paintings, which was mentioned in 1773 in ‘Almanach de Vienne’ as one of the most valuable private collections that could be seen in the Viennese cultural circles of the time.

Initial collections of Baron von Brukenthal, consisting of an art gallery, a print room, a library and a numismatic collection were created between 1759 and 1774.
Appointed Governor of the Grand Principality of Transylvania, a position he held between 1777 and 1787, Samuel von Brukenthal built in Sibiu a late Baroque palace, modelled on Viennese palaces.

Brukenthal Palace is one of the most important Baroque monuments in Romania. It was built in stages between 1778 and 1788. The appearance of the palace seen from the Market Square is particularly elegant because of the verticality of its pilasters and attic ceiling. The palace was built to serve as the official residence of the baron and as the main storage place for its collections.

Photo credit (c): Muzeul National Brukenthal

Currently, Brukenthal Palace houses the European Art Gallery of the Brukenthal National Museum and the Brukenthal Library.

Far from the eyes of most of the visitors, in the courtyard of Brukenthal Palace, is the library. It contains tens of thousands of works published in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, including works by Moliere published in Paris in 1734 in six volumes, Boccaccio’s ‘Decameron’ printed in London in 1757, ‘Harmonia Macrocosmica,’ a typographic jewel with 27 colour maps, and ‘Quatre livres’ by Albert Durer, published in Paris in 1557. The most valuable item in the library is, the ‘Brukenthal Breviary’ or ‘Book of Hours,’ which manuscript is an exceptional work of the Flemish school of miniatures dating from the first decades of the 16th century. Of the 422 incunabula in the library worth mentioning is Hartman Schedel’s ‘Liber Chronicarum,’ the Nuremberg Chronicle published by the famous Nuremberg printer Anton Koberger in 1493 that has over 600 illustrations. Also in the library there is a Bible published by the same printer in Nuremberg in 1483.

Photo credit (c): CONSTANTIN DUMA/AGERPRES ARCHIVES

The Brukenthal Library also has a collection of old Romanian books, including Varlaam’s ‘Cazania,’ a religious book of sermons and stories explaining the meanings of evangelical texts, printed in Iasi in 1643. Its collection of books printed in Transylvania or about Transylvania is special. The oldest book on display is work is ‘Augustinus Haereseon Catalogus,’ printed in Brasov in 1539 by Johannes Honterus the first printer in Transylvania.

Brukenthal Palace in the Market Square and the baron’s collections together make up the core of today’s Brukenthal National Museum, which gates have been open to the public ever since its inception by its founder’s testamentary disposition.

Currently, the Brukenthal National Museum operates as a public institution of mixed ownership, under an agreement between the Romanian Government and the Evangelical Church of Sibiu.

Visiting the museum is not confined to a single building or a single profile of specialisation, becoming a comprehensive journey that presents multiple aspects of the past and the ever changing present, reflected in a wide variety of exhibits covering approximately 10,000 square metres, of which 5,500 are new and recently refurbished exhibition spaces.

Initially showcasing the collection of European paintings of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal in one building, the museum today houses a wide variety of valuable collections in 9 buildings, of which 5 are palaces built in different eras: the earliest building, which foundation dates back to the 13th century, is part of an architectural compound that also includes a Museum of History, while the most recent dates back to 1901, now hosting the Contemporary Art Gallery.

In 2006-2009, the museum underwent a spectacular transformation, with all its buildings having been refurbished and 85% of its exhibitions redesigned and extended in accordance with methodologies and concepts of contemporary museology.

The Brukenthal National Museum’s main priority in its programmes and projects for the future is capitalising on its heritage at a European level through international exhibitions. The programme started with the ‘Bruegel, Memling, Van Eyck — The Brukenthal Collection’ exhibition opened in 2009 at the Jacquemart-Andre Museum of Paris and continued with exchanges of exhibitions conducted in cooperation with museums in Poland, Germany, Italy etc. and the development of educational programmes. The Brukenthal National Museum was chosen by the European Commission and Europa Nostra among the winners of the 2010 edition of the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Awards (Category 4 — Education, Training and Awareness Raising). It was the first museum in Romania to receive a prize from the European Union.

Photo credit (c): ISABELA PAULESCU / AGERPRES ARCHIVES

In 2011, the Brukenthal National Museum was included in The Best in Heritage Excellence Club by the European Heritage Association.

The Brukenthal National Museum has conducted sustained branding. Depicting the portrait of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, the brand was launched with the release of the Brukenthal Chocolate (2008). It has been promoted alongside the façade of the palace and the logo of the institution in a series of increasingly wider range of branded and customised products. In 2012, it was awarded ‘The Most Promising Romanian Cultural Brand’ prize.

In May 2013, the Brukenthal National Museum started a campaign called ‘I love Brukenthal’, proposing a return to acknowledging the individual action of cultural patronage, aimed, via the museum, at the local, national and European community, of which it is a part, by the magnitude of the projects it conducts. German and Austrian paintings are perhaps the highest in demand at Brukenthal Palace. The richest European painting collections of the Brukenthal art gallery is the German and Austrian collection, counting nearly 500 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. Yet, most of the works are from the 17th and 18th centuries illustrating various trends of the Baroque, including the influences of the Flemish, Dutch and Italian schools.

The Brukenthal National Museum is the only museum in Romania that has in its collection of European paintings works by Jan van Eyck, Hans Memling and Titian Vecellio Da Cadore, which can be seen on display along with works by other masters such as Antonello da Messina, Lorenzo Lotto, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Pieter Bruegel the Younger, Jacob Jordaens, David Teniers II, Philips Wouwerman, Philips de Koninck, Frans van Mieris I, Alessandro Magnasco and Rosalba Carriera.
An integrant part of the Brukenthal art gallery, the collection of Flemish and Dutch paintings comprises approximately 450 works.

The most famous temporary exhibition now at Brukenthal Palace is the first exhibition in Romania of famous Salvador Dali’s illustrations for Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy,’ basically the main graphics work of the Spanish painter, an artist who believed to be akin to Romanians and who wanted to come to Romania, according to exhibition curator Maria Ordeanu.

The Brukenthal National Museum means Brukenthal Palace, the neighbouring Blue House where there are the Romanian Art Gallery, the Gallery of Contemporary Arts, the Museum of History, the Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the History of Pharmacy, the oldest of its kind in Romania, the Museum of Hunting and refurbishment workshops.

Photo credit (c): CONSTANTIN DUMA/AGERPRES ARCHIVES

All languages of the world are spoken at Brukenthal Palace in Sibiu. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people from all around the world come to the palace to admire the former Transylvanian governor’s collections in a place that remains as innovative, modern and European as ever after nearly two centuries. AGERPRES

Photo credit: (c) CRISTIAN NISTOR/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

More than once, I have seen people coming and touching doors, windows, pots and fencings at this museum of the old soul, moved by a nostalgia that only they know, then smiling and saying out loud ‘I’ve grown up here. This is my grandfather’s home.’

And to see that the childhood memories’ sack is bottomless, I lingered for a moment on a note in the museum’s guestbook by someone from Fundu Moldovei, Suceava County, who has written, ‘Today I had the opportunity to attend an emotional moment occasioned by the consecration of a blacksmith’s workshop acquired by the Village Museum from a relative of ours from the beautiful Bucovina, Fundu Moldovei. This way we could admire the richness of the museum and the people taking care of its management. The scenery is great, and the exhibits are displayed in a completely natural, appropriate and well organised framework. We thank everyone who deal with and put their soul in preserving traditional customs. Our highest consideration, Family Grigorean Dumitru. We are living now in Bucharest, but I was born in Fundu Moldovei, Suceava County.’

The Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation, which in 2013 celebrated its 50th anniversary, is the largest open-air museum in Romania and the second largest in Europe. It covers 96 hectares, of which the exhibition itself covers 42 hectares and it is enriched every year with at least four to five monuments.

Photo credit: (c) CRISTIAN NISTOR/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Located in the Dumbrava Sibiului Natural Park, the museum has a lake and more than ten kilometres of trails. It is not only just an open-air ethnographic exhibition, but it also offers complete tourist packages. Visitors can enjoy a wide range of traditional dishes in the rustic ambience of Carciuma din Batrani, the pub of good old’ years, the Tulghes Inn and the Vestem Inn, with the latter also providing accommodations. A double room, breakfast included, costs RON 120 here.

The tourist infrastructure of the ASTRA Museum was expanded in 2007 with the two-star Diana Hostel, which can accommodate 70 guests. In 2013, about 1,500 people came and in January-July 2014 it welcomed 710 tourists. One overnight at the Diana Hostel costs between RON 30 and 50 per person.

The Conference Room, with all the necessary technical equipment, can seat 120 people, and it can be rented on request.

For the most pleasant free time spending, the museum offers the possibility of travelling by boat on the lake, by carriage or by sleigh. In 2011, the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation was listed in the Michelin Green Guide with the highest distinction: three stars.

Photo credit: (c) ISABELA PAULESCU/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

The number of visitors to the open-air museum grew exponentially from year to year, from about 120,000 people a year in 2007 to 188,495 in 2012 and 220,130 in 2013. Nearly 30 per cent of them are foreign tourists, according to Eliza Penciu of the museum’s Marketing Department.

The events that attracted the largest number of visitors in the past years were the Night of Museums — 14,500 visitors; the National Festival of Folk Traditions and the Craftsmen’s Fair—8,850 visitors; the Traditional Artistic Crafts Olympiad — 4,837 visitors.

The Sibiu museum has rich cultural offerings throughout the year.

The events that attract the highest number of visitors to the open-air museum are those included in the ‘Living Human Treasures’ programme: the Traditional Artistic Crafts Olympiad (at its 19th edition in 2014), the National Festival of Folk Traditions and the Craftsmen’s Fair (12th edition), the Trade Fair of Romanian Folk Craftspeople (which turns 31 in 2014) and the National Festival of Traditions and Customs. Other important events of the Astra are the Nice. Ceramic. Useful. International Trade Fair, the Universal Day of the Folk Blouse, the Infant Day and the trade fair of brands.

Photo credit: (c) ROMULUS BRUMA/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

At the Astra Museum, volunteers join curators and supervisors. The museum carries out volunteer programmes that offer young people the opportunity to develop useful social and professional skills. In April 29, 2013 — May 12, 2013, a project called ‘Education for volunteering in the cultural sector’ was conducted, financed by AFCN, as part of the VOLAM volunteerism platform initiated by DALA Foundation and the and the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation, in partnership with UNION REMPART of France, a federation of NGOs with expertise in the refurbishment, preservation and promotion of international heritage.

In July 2014, the Astra Museum welcomed three groups of volunteers from Romanian and foreign universities that conducted conservation and refurbishment works on monuments and heritage objects of the Astra Museum as well as activities to promote the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation.

Summer vacation is highly spirited. Visitors are submerged in the atmosphere of traditional villages, while being presented a new approach to the capitalisation on the museum’s assets through cultural events of the past decades, particularly the Living Human Treasures programme. Trade fairs and workshops by craftspeople, folklore shows, gastronomic events at the Country Trade Fair make up a quasi-permanent summer programme offering Romanian and foreign tourists alike the opportunity to discover the Romanian traditions.

In fact, the Astra Museum feels like a miniature Romania, the Romania of the countryside. The long-term development strategy of the Astra Museum includes the reconstruction of the specific cultural landscape around monuments by preserving and cultivating traditional fruit trees and traditional vegetable varieties, cereals, technical crops and flowers. Another development direction is represented by attracting new audiences, getting closer to the community, in order to extend the possibility of creative leisure. In this regard, workshops were held for the auditing and improvement of tourist products and services, the development of tourist business plans and of a feasibility study for the establishment of a Centre for Regional Resources and Activities at the open-air museum in Dumbrava Sibiului.

Photo credit: (c) AGERPRES ARCHIVE

In order to preserve unaltered the paradise of the Romanian countryside, the museum has been concerned with attracting investment, especially foreign one. The Astra National Museum Compound has accessed external non-repayable funds under two major projects funded by the financial mechanism of the European Economic Area (Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein).

The first of these projects focused on creating a modern centre for the conservation and refurbishment of cultural heritage assets. In early September 2009, construction works started on the Astra Heritage Centre, at the third entry gate to the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation, that covers 1,878 square metres of multi-purpose space, including storage areas for the museum’s collections, conservation and refurbishment laboratories, a training centre for Romania’s conservators and curators (CePCoR). The total budget provided for the project amounted to 2,916,238 euros. Astra, with direct support from the Sibiu County Council, contributed 15.58 per cent toward the project. The project was completed in 2011.

In recognition of the results of implementing a previous project, when Astra demonstrated administrative and professional skills in reaching all the proposed cultural and investment indicators and using up 99.9 per cent of the available funds, the Astra Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation was named a potential beneficiary for a new round of fund allocations for the priority sector ‘European Cultural Heritage Conservation.’ The designation was made under an agreement between the European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) and the Romanian Government on the implementation of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014, published in the Official Journal of April 23, 2012.

Photo credit: (c) ROMULUS BRUMA/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

By April 2016, an Open Heritage project is carried out at Astra to increase public access to the multi-ethnic heritage values of the Astra Museum, set at 3,500,054 million euros.

The project envisages a complex cultural program, including a partnership with MiST — Museum of South Trondelag of Trondheim, Norway, designed to strengthen bilateral relations through joint research into the cultural history of ethnic minorities, reconstruction, preservation and refurbishment of representative monuments at the open-air museum, to develop and promote an exhibition circuit called the Road of Ethnic Minorities and to improve physical accessibility by the construction of a new building at the open-air museum (to host the Museum of Transylvanian Civilisation that currently has no location, and a modern access facility, both included in the Multicultural Museum Pavilion — PaMM).

‘The Astra Museum has witnessed a growing influx of visitors over the last years, with a turning point in the year when Sibiu was a European Capital of Culture, when the number of visitors doubled from the previous year. Since 2008, the open-air museum has constantly had 200,000 visitors, being the most visited facility of the institution. The Astra Museum became a landmark for everybody, because of its numerous national and international projects carried out and its constant involvement in the efforts to promote traditional values locally and regionally,’ Astra Museum Director Ciprian Stefan tells Agerpres.

According to him, the museum in Padurea Dumbrava Sibiului prides itself on the most extensive collection of mills in Europe, over 30 mills, some almost two centuries old and, most importantly, still operational.

Photo credit: (c) ISABELA PAULESCU/AGERPRES ARCHIVE

Beyond figures, fresh air, traditions, homes saved from the Romanian countryside, which is losing increasingly more of its charm, you cannot but wonder what miracle occurred in the summer of 2009 in the heart of a family from Fundul Moldovei that came to the heart of Transylvania, in Sibiu. Because that must have been a wondrous joy that filled their hearts for they wrote in the guestbook on Pentecost: ‘On this holy day of Pentecost, we were honoured to join the wonderful people who staged the blessing of the ironsmith’s worship from Fundu Moldovei that belonged to Ioan Burduhas, who died on January 26, 2005. We were pleasantly impressed with the way in which the workshop was restored and we hope that it will be still in such wonderful state many years from now on. Thank you to everyone who had the initiative to purchase for this wonderful museum, a place where we will come with pleasure whenever we have the opportunity.’ AGERPRES

Photo credit: aronet.ro

Founded in 1954 at the initiative of Professor Valeriu Bologa of the Cluj University of Medicine and Pharmacy, the museum is tucked in the Hintz House, a historic monument dating from the fifteenth century, which accommodated the town’s first pharmacy “St. George” — founded by a Saxon family — throughout its uninterrupted operation for almost 400 years (1573 — 1949). As of 1752, the space was rented out to private pharmacists and the first tenant was privileged pharmacist Tobias Mauksch; in 1863, it became ownership of the Hintz family. The property was returned in 2008 to a descendant of the Hintz family (who were the last pharmacists to work here until 1949).

The Hintz House — 1904
Photo credit: aronet.ro

The initial core for the establishment of the museum was the collection of Transylvanian pharmaceutical items of Professor and Corresponding Academy Member Iuliu Orient (1869-1940), which was displayed at the Transylvanian Museum in 1904. Other donations added later on, all bearing remarkable testimony to the pharmaceutical activity in 16th — 19th century Transylvania.

The collection is displayed in three rooms of the old pharmacy and two laboratories that preserve the medieval setting, located at the basement, where an entire arsenal of tools used for the preparation of drugs meets the visitor’s eyes: there’s a distiller for obtaining the alcohol used to extract tinctures from various herbs, containers for melting substances, bowls for the hot preparation of drugs or for roasting therapeutic seeds, presses for medicinal juices, tools for shaping or capsulizing tablets and suppositories, bronze and iron mortars (16th century), old furniture, medicines, prescriptions, seals of medieval pharmacies.

Photo credit: calatorii.myfreeforum.ro

Trade-specific weight units are not missing from the pharmacy collection: the libra (420.82 g), the ounce (35.001 g), the drachma (4.375 g), the scruple — scrupulus in Latin (1.550 g) and the granum (0.072 g).

The museum boasts the most valuable collection of pharmaceutical vessels in Romania, dating from the 16th — 19th century, made of wood, ceramic, earthenware, glass or porcelain, all by well-established manufacturers, painted and engraved with the Latin names of the pharmaceuticals kept in them. Some of these recipients are unique in Europe.

Photo credit: turdalive.ro

The decoration of the Dispensary, the space where drugs were sold, is unique in Romania; it was ordered by pharmacist Tobias Mauksch who has worked here for half a century. The original 18th century ceiling frescoes are preserved, featuring elaborate pharmaceutical symbols: the tree of life surrounded by the two serpents of Aesculapius and a crane holding a stone in its claws as a symbol of watchfulness.

Also to be found here is a pharmaceutical chest from the 17th century, with ten drawers, each with a plate indicating the substance deposited inside: “Crem. Tartari” (potassium hydrogen tartrate, with laxative and diuretic effect); “Lap. Pumicis” (pumice powder, a remedy against intestinal parasites); “Lap.Haematid” (hematite — a trivalent iron oxide; the powder of this mineral was used as antihaemorrhagic agent).

Photo credit: www.welcometoromania.ro

Also to be seen in the Dispensary is the diploma awarded to pharmacist Velits from Turda in 1776. Two wooden panels painted in the eighteenth century represent Greek physician Hippocrates and the goddess of wisdom, Minerva.

Displayed on the prescription preparation table are some drug formulations used by pharmacists in the past such as coral powder, powdered precious stones, crayfish eyes, Syrian asphalt (used to treat rheumatic diseases) or herbal tinctures.

The museum also preserves medical kits used during the war, complete with soothing remedies, medical books and documents belonging to the first pharmacies in Transylvania.

Photo credit: primariaclujnapoca.ro

Among the fascinating exhibits are medicines from Antiquity to the Middle Ages, many of them very bizarre, such as mummy powder — considered a panacea in the Middle Ages and credited with miraculous powers of curing the plague and cholera; Teriaca — a medicine more than 2,000 years old, a complex product with over 60 herbal ingredients that also contained a significant dose of opium, used predominantly as an antidote against poison, as well as an ingredient in even more complex medication; Arabian lizard — used as powder in the manufacturing of diuretics and aphrodisiacs.

Photo credit: romania.ici.ro

The Pharmacy Museum in Cluj-Napoca presented on February 24, 2014, on the Romanian love day — the Dragobete — an ‘Eau d’Amour’ recipe dating from the nineteenth century. The perfume recipe which was high in demand at that time was preserved in the ‘St. George’ apothecaries and contains essential oils of bergamot, rose, orange blossom, violet root oil, and musk, amber, coumarin, vanilla, ylang-ylang, jasmine essence, all these exotic ingredients mixed in various quantities with wine alcohol. The fragrance was prepared in the pharmacy, which was also offering cosmetics in those days, and sold in special, hand painted vials.

The Pharmacy Museum is a special collection that lights the spirit through the passion for serving the profession that imbues the exhibits and the originality of the tools of the trade.

AGERPRES