Vădastra Project

Vădastra is a small village in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania. During the Late Neolithic the territory of the present-day province Oltenia witnesses a cultural diversity. The area has an abundant hydro-graphic basin which will play an important role in the dynamic of the Neolithic people situated in the southern part of the Carpathians.

Between the Jiu River and the Olt River a complex cultural display can be registered, one can notice settlements belonging to Vădastra culture (6000-3500 BC; first evolution phase surpasses the Olt - including northeastern Bulgaria, in the second phase is restricted only between the two streams). Vădastra culture reached during its evolution a high degree of development, highlighted among other achievements in the field of anthropomorphic art. Representative is the complex pottery excised and heavily encrusted with white substance, of an unprecedented splendor in the Middle Neolithic, highest expression of art of decorative pottery of all European Neo-Eneolithic.

The Vădastra Experimental Archaeology Project, unique to Romania, was initiated in year 2000 by Professor Dr. Dragoş Gheorghiu of the National University of Arts of Bucharest, who is pioneering the research in this field by recreating artifacts and using ancient techniques, but is also re-enacting the use of space, water and fire to reproduce perceptions that are both ancient and inspiring for the new generations. His project is part of a new field in archaeology, often labeled as archaeology / anthropology of perceptions / senses, which merges art, cognitive sciences, archaeology and especially experimental archaeology, anthropology and philosophy, or phenomenology in archaeology. The project was initially supported by the Archaeology Department of the Ministry of Culture.

In Romania the traditional ceramic wasn't studied from the point of experimenting clays and ways of burning like does in European Countries for some years. It is still an unknown domain not only for the Romanian archaeologist but for the foreign ones. The research project initiated by the University of Arts Bucharest is trying to make known the values of prehistoric ceramic art from Romania to Europe, as well as the information about the color, the shape and technology employed. The Vădastra 2000 Project is the first international project in which UAB led the initiative and which involved several important European and American Universities.

The principal method involved was the reconstruction of the technological chains of making and burning the ceramic items, by this meaning the materials analysis and several tests of clay and finally making objects as close to the prehistoric ones as possible. This experimental method is essential for the revival of the traditional ceramic art and also for the experimental archaeology. In Vădastra are developed also a series of pyrotechnic applications and vernacular architecture designed to bring to light and highlight the technologies of the past.

In the archaeological park annually develop new projects and continue the ones initiated in 2000, within an international approach - Dr. Alex Gibson (University of Bradford, United Kingdom), Dr. Richard Carlton (University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), Dr. George Nash (University of Bristol, UK), Dr. Kevin Andrews, Dr Roger Doonan and Dr. Bruce Induni (Bournemouth University, UK), Dr. Armand Desbat (Center National de la Recherche Scientifique, Lyon), Dr. Ralph Rowlett (University of Missouri - Columbia, USA), Marc van der Linden (Université Libre de Bruxelles). The project is in the database of Prehistoric Ceramic Research Group of United Kingdom, and students from USA, UK, Belgium, France, Finland, Poland, Romania.

Initially, a "World Team" of scientists tried to rediscover the techniques of pottery and ceramics burning practiced about 7,000 years ago - without potter's wheel, in kilns built with technologies and materials available in the Neolithic, using a natural fuel specific to the period. Gradually, were developed experiments of archaeo-metallurgy, eco-design, large ceramic objects, prehistoric architecture, practical lessons for the children from Vişina and Vădastra villages and for students with the purpose of revival the traditional ceramic art.

Photos from here.

The Romanian Peasant Museum

The Romanian Peasant Museum is part of the European family of Museums of Popular Art and Traditions. It is a national museum, under the Ministry of Culture’s patronage. In possession of an especially rich collection of objects, hosted in a Neo-Romanian style historical monument-building, our Museum developed a highly original museography honored in 1996 by receiving the EMYA – European Museum of the Year Award. The originality of the exhibiting style is continued in the Museum’s publications, in actions such as the Missionary Museum, the Village School, concerts, conferences and exhibition openings.


The Romanian Peasant Museum’s building is placed in Victoria Square in Bucharest, next to the Natural Science Museum “Grigore Antipa” and the Geology Museum. The construction of the building, including its design was assigned to architect N. Ghika-Budeşti, leading member of the autochthonous school of architecture. According to the museographic view of the ethnographer and director Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcas, he was supposed to raise a “palace of autochthonous art” inspired by typical monastery interiors.


In 1941, after 29 years and many interruptions, the building, in its current shape is ready. Representative for the neo-Romanian style, inspired by traditional architecture, especially the Brâncovenesc style, the building is remarkable by its composition using mainly floral and zoomorphic decorations. The visible red bricklayer, the big windows under arches, the columns of the logia, the elegant silhouette of the main tower reminding of the bell towers in old monasteries make the building a true palace of art.In the 60s a new wing of offices and auxiliary rooms is added in total discordance with the style conceived by Ghika-Budeşti. A huge mosaic, characteristic for the quasi-proletkult period in Romanian Communism, individualizes the new wing.


In 1906 the first autonomous museum for peasant art was established. Lucky circumstances brought the art historian Alexandru Tzigara-Samurcaş as its first director. He renamed the institution the Ethnography and National Art Museum and from 1912 on, the National Art Museum. During the 40 years of Tzigara Samurcaş’ leadership the museum was in the avant-garde of European museology.


The so-called “liberation” of 1944 led to the “liberation” of the museum from its own home and its replacement with the Lenin-Stalin Museum. The National Art Museum moved, as a tenant, in Ştirbei Palace on Calea Victoriei, for 25 years and under a new name: the Popular Art Museum of the Romanian Popular/Socialist Republic. During this period, the museographers were forced to “forget” exhibiting some valuable collection pieces, especially the religious ones. However, they succeeded in increasing the heritage of the museum with three times as much objects of peasant art. In 1978, the Popular Art Museum and the Village Museum are united in one institution. The unification mainly meant that most of collections of the Popular Art museum remained hidden in a long and unhealthy sleep until 1990 when the museum was reestablished and brought back to its home on Kiseleff no.3.


The Romanian Peasant Musuem, National Museum of Arts and Traditions holds the richest collection of peasant objects in Romania. Almost 90.000 pieces of patrimony are as many witnesses helping our contemporaries to understand the peasant world.


The Ceramics Collection holds around 18.000 representative pieces for the almost 200 pottery centers of Romania. Tohether with these, we hold the complete inventory of some pottery workshops from Hunedoara and Valcea, dating from the 19th century. The Costume Collection holds almost 20.000 pieces of costume from all Romanian provinces starting with the first half of the 19th century.


The Collection of Decorative Interior Homespun increased from 5000 pieces in 1991 to almost 10.000 today. Most of The Wool Homespun, over 7.000 of them, are dated back to the beginning of the 19th century.

The Wood, Furniture and Ironware Collection holds almost 8000 pieces.


The Religious Collections holds almost 4.000 pieces.

The Horezu Rooster

Romanian ceramics compiles an experience that dates back to Neolithic times. The “Cucuteni” culture of this period is recognized as having one of the most refined and stylish potteries in all of Europe.

Nowadays, the most famous Romanian pottery is made in and around the town of Horezu, from northern Wallachia (Vâlcea County), on the riverbed of the river Olt. An age-old craft, modeling clay has become a real art in the hands of old masters, the inhabitants of this breathtaking region.


On the main street, called "Olari Street" (Potters' Street), one may admire famous collections bearing the names of those who gave life to the potter's wheel: Vicşoreanu, Mischiu, Ogrezeanu, (members of the Romanian Academy of Folk Arts), and others. Everything about this antique art is a family secret and at the same time a family business, since both adult members of the family are usually involved: the man giving shape to the objects and the woman decorating them.


The Horezu enameled pottery – unique to Romania through its chromatics and floral motives – is emblematic of the region. And, its ceramics are known worldwide. These objects preserve the local tradition and display Byzantine influences that have turned the craft into a brand for the Horezu valley. Horezu pottery is shaped only on the traditional kick-wheel, with simple finishing tools. Its burning is usually made in horizontal stoves using the oxidation technique, thus resulting in red earthenware. Most of the ceramic objects are decorated in delicate, yet powerful geometric and vegetal patterns, artfully painted by the masters’ wives, using 100% natural colors and ancient age old tools such as cow horns and goose feathers.


The traditional glazed ceramic objects are: plates, mugs, pitchers, bowls and even toys and flutes. The most frequently used colors in Horezu are brown, orange-red, green and lately even blue. Light colors are preferred for the background. They clay is prepared through a traditional technique and not used immediately. The clay needs to yeast for a while – big clay balls are broken into small particles through a wetting-drying process. The motifs are varied and many of them were preserved through time, even if they suffered changes in their representation. The most popular motif for the region is the Horezu Rooster, but there are other symbolic drawings: the spiral, the star, the snake of the house, the tree of life, the wavy line (the lost way), concentric circles, and the wheat ears. The traditional painting method called "jirăvirea" is a special technique used for adornment. This is made by joining the edges of a spiral with its center, while the paint is still wet. This technique allows the making of an infinite number of models that result from the combination of the colors that appear in a spiral and through the different styles through which this traditional painting method is done.


The town of Horezu houses the largest ceramics fair in the country, “The Hurez Cock”, an event that takes place every year on the first Saturday and Sunday of June. The fair is attended by craftsmen from all the pottery centres across the country ( Horezu – Vâlcea, Oboga – Olt, Vlădesti – Vâlcea, Corund – Harghita, Baia Mare, Hunedoara, Timis, Marginea – Suceava, Lungeşti – Vâlcea, Slătioara – Vâlcea, Miercurea Nirajului, Odorheiul Secuiesc, and so on).

The potters from Corund

The name of Corund (Hungarian: Korond) is inseparable from ceramics: the village is one of the most important ceramic centers in Europe. There is a saying in Corund: "since the world exists they always produced pottery". Corund is situated at 11 km from Praid, 18 km from Sovata, 29 km from Odorheiu Secuiesc and 80 km from Miercurea-Ciuc, in Harghita County.


This is a Middle Age tradition that became industry. The first written source dates back to the year 1613, when the pottery guild from Udvarhely accused the people of Corund with bungling. Later a decree defends the ceramists from Udvarhely, valid in one-mile distance, so the situation of Corund, Atid, Cusmed and Solocma became difficult. In 1750 count Gyulaffy László (1699-1754), the chancellor of Transylvania assures the ceramists of Corund that they can annually hold four fairs in Corund where they can sell their products. The clay industry of Sóvidék (Salt's Land) produced chiefly storing and cooking vessels without glaze, which were necessary in everyday life. This production had lasted until the end of the last century.


The Szekler women say "the best corn porridge can be made in vessels made in Corund" (Szeklers are Hungarian ethnics living in Eastern Transylvania). The potters remained competitive during the centuries in making thin and copper vessels that were unreachable for the villagers. In 1820 there were 50, in 1893 145, in 1900 367 potters who produced vessels without glaze (1,2-1,5 million a year). After the end of the 19th century they started to produce glazed vessels: Filep Dezsõ and Katona József established the first glazed vessel workshop near the Arcio (Árcsó) bath. Later they moved to Praid to the place of the match factory. Beginning with the 18th century the tiles occupied a very important place in the Corund pottery. Around 1930 there were established two vessel factories: the Bertalan-Kacsó and the Katona Sándor (with 80-120 workers).


Since 1962 they also produced black pottery. In 1974 a new ceramic factory was built (350 m2). In 1972, pottery was produced on 375 discs, the number of workers reached 190, in 1992 around 872 potters worked in the village. The main products are: pots, pans, butter squeezers, jars, filters, cups, candle supports, salt-cellars, ornamental plates (with wedge, peafowl eye, chessboard, pine-branch, edelweiss, spinning-case, life-tree, grid, doorpost, tulip, half-sun, peafowl, chrysanthemum, oak-leaf, string). The Korond pottery is exported in many countries. Incze Lajos's statement is adequate (1939): "There is no fair in the country without potters from Corund, they took over the legacy of the mineral water selling Szekler: the roads".