ASTRA Traditional Folk Civilization Museum Sibiu

Potential for a successful transition from a traditional open-air museum to an eco-museum

Great possibilities for testifying the life of Roman villages

In the forest of Sibiu in Transylvania, Romania, this outdoor museum preserves the traditional Romanian architecture of windmills, watermills, farmhouses, fishermen's quarters, barns and churches. Complete with streams, a 6 ha lake, fields and forests, Sibiu's impressive open-air museum with a 96 ha area has 10 km of walkways. It is one of Europe's biggest open-air museums, a traditional Romania cut to scale, founded in 1905 and closed in 1950 for "ideological" reasons. It has reopened once again and is a beautiful outing after having visited castles and city museums in nearby Sibiu.

Inconsistencies
On a trip to Astra museum during Easter we arrived at 10.30. Surprised at an empty parking lot, it turned out that we were the first guests of the day. Upon reading a detailed sign stating the admission fees of 20 Lei for adults (1 Euro is approx. 3.3 Lei), a minor parking fee, and a steep fee for taking pictures (including threats of what would happen if you didn't pay for permission to take photos and took some anyways), we perhaps looked a bit weary. The ticket inspector asked my husband and I if we were a family and we nodded. Instead of 40 Lei the price was swiftly reduced to 10 Lei for a family ticket. Of course this is a method of ensuring that the locals can afford the admission fee, but then it should be signposted as in many places with special rates for locals and other rates for tourists. The Astra website also boasts that you can there are water activities and have traditional food in the inn. During Easter there were no possibilities of water activities. The inn didn't serve hot tea, to my knowledge a traditional Romanian drink!

Architecture - and culture
Astra has a large variety of typical homes and workplaces in a wonderful setting. But unfortunately almost all of the houses are closed, even though a look through the tiny windows reveals that the interior had been recreated complete with furniture and cooking equipment.

Locals, employees, visitors and the local tourist service providers would benefit by letting this traditional open-air museum merge with the benefits of an eco-museum. Instead of standing outside looking at homesteads (information on the signs is lengthy, but only in Romanian), we want to go inside and smell baking over the fire. Instead of looking at beautiful pigeon houses, we would like to see them filled with pigeons. Rather than looking at one mill after another, we wish we could see them produce energy. Fill empty beehives with bees and sell us a jar of honey. Live sheep, chicken and cows create more natural scenery than empty stables and pastures, just as fishermen out on the lake in one of the wooden boats would complete the picture. It wouldn't cost much, as there are numerous employees, but they are mainly doing maintenance work such as raking winter leaves or building benches and scene on the lake for summer concerts and theatre performances. Why not involve these elderly men and have them do something interesting, rather than raking leaves together in the midst of a forest? The museum has enormous potential. At the moment it is an outdoor museum of folk architecture with original buildings: farmer's cottages, outhouses and stables, windmills and churches. All is re-created down to the tiniest detail - and it is a beautiful exhibition of artefacts.

Nonetheless, the way it is run seems such a waste, but perhaps this disposition reflects an ideology linked to the Romanian past. Romanians overthrew the communist regime in 1989 in a number of bloody clashes. Perhaps they haven't realized that they should be proud of their former identity as people with rural roots. A membership to EU in 2007 shouldn't hinder this; rather eco-tourism and open-air museums are on the rise. Visitors want authenticity. We don't only want to look at artefacts, but see them in use, by local men, women and children. We want to see craftsmen carving wooden statues of the saints, women embroidering blouses, farmer shoeing their horses and cows being milked. We want to see life pulsing through the museum witnessing culture and customs of a bygone age.

Romanian villages, the cradle of folk art and culture
The population of Romania is leaving behind the rural life, which empty farmsteads, townhouses and even abandoned churches bear witness to. Many are not only leaving village life behind, but Romania in search of a better life in Italy, Greece and other European countries with higher wages and better working conditions. It will be difficult and probably impossible to revitalise many Romanian villages, not only because of greater possibilities elsewhere, but because they have been taught that industry and urban life are more important than rural life. Therefore museums like Astra in Sibiu have a great responsibility in testifying the life of Romanian villages, the cradle of folk art and culture.

Related Information
National Museum Complex Sibiu, ASTRA