Romania boasts several Village museums countrywide, not many indeed, but each of them displaying exquisite features and natural surroundings.
Apart from the unique Village museums in Bucharest, “Dimitrie Gusti” and Astra Museum in Sibiu, we discovered last weekend the Golesti ensemble near Pitesti (Arges county) in Golesti, encompassing a beautiful pastoral scenery still filled with the scent of the blooming linden trees, a revamped mansion of one of the oldest Romanian aristocrat families, a small bucolic village museum and lots of stories behind.
The Golesti Museum was set up by King Carol II in 1939, under the name of “Dinicu Golescu Museum”, but the mansions of Golescu family were turned into museum in 1943.
At present, the museum has seven sections, hosting the Golesti memorial house built in 1640, but revamped recently, the historical department getting together information about the Golescu family and members and their contribution in the country’s history and culture. The museum hosts an educational section, as Golesti village sheltered the first village school in Wallachia.
The ensemble also has an watch tower with deep historical resonance, as it was here that Tudor Vladimirescu, the great leader of the Revolution in 1821 spent his last three days of freedom during May 18-21 and where he had been caught by his enemies.
The most important sector of the museum is the open-air area, represented by the rural houses brought from the main viticulture and orcharding areas of Romania, grouped as a Romanian village. Each wine or fruit-growing household includes within it: dwelling house, dependencies, specific installations and working tools, required to practice various occupations: agriculture, cattle breeding or bee culture.
The Open Section, covering an area of 10 hectares and consisting of over 35 peasant households is extremely impressive, as it derives from the importance of viticulture and pomiculture on Arges territory.
