Radio România Internațional

Tag: national museum of history of romania

  • The “EIKON” Exhibition

    The “EIKON” Exhibition

    The National Museum of History of Romania (MNIR) in late November inaugurated the exhibition “EIKON. Conservation and restoration of wood painting”. The exhibition brings to the public icons on wood and the general issue of conservation and restoration of wood paintings from the Museum collections. The exhibition displays both restored objects and the technological flow that an object goes through, from restoration to exhibition. We spoke to restorer Maria Popa about the exhibition and the steps the Museum is taking to bring restoration to the attention of the general public:

     

    “The ‘EIKON’ exhibition is the first exhibition of wood painting restoration organized at the National Museum of History of Romania. Restoration is a topic the museum wants to bring to the attention of the public as often as possible, because, before reaching the showcase, the items go through the restoration workshop for a brief check. The National Museum of History of Romania has in the past hosted other exhibitions on the conservation and restoration of heritage items on different types of supports. Last year, in the same space where we have the ‘EIKON’ exhibition today, there was an exhibition on restoration of old books and documents”.

     

    Maria Popa told us more about the concept of this exhibition:

     

    “The concept behind the exhibition was a desire to present to the public some of the activities that takes place in the wood painting restoration workshop.”

     

    Restorer Maria Popa told us which pieces or exhibits can be seen in the exhibition, how they were restored and what other elements visitors can see.

     

    “The exhibition includes 12 pieces, 11 from the collections of the National Museum of History and one from a private collection. Most of the items are from the Russian, Lipovan school, and were manufactured between the 18th and 20th centuries. They reached the restoration workshop with various problems, from dirt deposits on the surface, areas of charring caused by the heat released by the candles that were placed too close, cracks in the framework panels, or areas where the painting was no longer preserved. The centerpiece of the exhibition is an imperial icon depicting Saint Hierarch Nicholas from the area of ​​Northern Transylvania or Maramureș. Over the years, it underwent two separate repainting processes, and when it arrived at our workshop, it had a different painting than the one you can see in the exhibition. The decision to remove the previous work done was due to the quality being poor both aesthetically and technically, and the painting brought to light following these restoration interventions is much superior to the original. You can see both the final result and the images from the restoration operations in the ‘EIKON’ exhibition. Within the exhibition there is an area that recreates a restoration workshop, with all the materials, tools and protective gear restorers use during the conservation and restoration process. Also in this area, you can see videos of the restoration of pieces on display. In one of the showcases, we have three icons on display that are in different stages of restoration, starting with the removal of deposits from the surface, filling gaps in the frame, and chromatic integration of missing areas”.

     

    Another Museum restorer, Marian Radu, specializes in wood frameworks. He told us more about the restoration process and its particularities:

     

    “In the field of conservation and restoration, the purpose of the intervention is to preserve movable and immovable heritage. Cultural goods are notable for their great diversity in terms of composition, structure, morphology, size, appearance, color, functionality and, obviously, value. The degradation factors that act on cultural goods are the physical-chemical factors and, last but not least, the human factor. Knowing all that, we can also learn more about the degradations that take place at the level of the wooden frame”.

     

    Marian Radu also told us about the panel of wood icons presented in the “EIKON” exhibition:

     

    “The panel is reinforced with two parallel crossbars of different directions, semi-retracted, inserted into the wood fiber, with a trapezoidal profile. By inserting the crossbars, the icon is made using the dovetail system. The crossbars play a very important role in the resistance structure of the panel … Considering these icons are two to three hundred years old, they have suffered various degradations over time… All of these will make the restoration process very difficult”.

     

    At the end of our talk, restorer Marian Radu told us the following about the “EIKON” exhibition:

     

    “The profession of restorer is less known in Romania, but by means of this exhibition, which is a premiere for the National Museum of History of Romania, I hope I have managed to pique the curiosity of the public to come to the museum, where they can see and better understand the fruit of our work over the past few years.” (VP)

  • The Postal Service Palace in Bucharest

    The Postal Service Palace in Bucharest

    The central part of the city, delineated by the Lipscani
    Street, the old Princely Court, the Dambovita riverbank and Victoria Road would
    gradually change its appearance. Springing up next to old merchant houses and
    inns were monumental buildings such as the National Bank Palace, the Savings
    Bank headquarters and the Postal Service Palace across the road, whose front
    was overlooking Victoria Road and whose backside was on Stavropoleos Street,
    close to the monastery of the same name created on the site of a former inn.




    The Postal Service Palace, whose construction began in
    1894, was also built on the site formerly occupied by an inn. The latter’s
    history is illustrative of the tumultuous life of the city. The building of the
    inn itself was linked to Constantin Brancoveanu, whose long reign from 1688 to
    1714 left an unmistakable mark on the history of Bucharest and the whole of
    Wallachia. Historian Dan Falcan tells us more:




    This inn was built on the site where the
    home of Constantin Balaceanu had been located. Balaceanu was a very important
    figure in the early days of Brancoveanu’s reign because he was a sworn enemy of
    the latter. Balaceanu was the son-in-law of ruler Serban Cantacuzino, the uncle
    of Brancoveanu and the ruler who preceded him on the throne of Wallachia. He
    wanted Serban’s son and his brother-in-law to come to power instead of
    Brancoveanu. This never happened but Balaceanu continued to plot against the
    new ruler, fleeing to the Austrians and organising a confrontation that came to
    an end in the Battle of Zarnesti in 1690. The Austrians were defeated and
    Constantin Balaceanu was taken prisoner and beheaded, while his property was
    confiscated by Brancoveanu, including his houses located on what is today the
    site of the National History Museum. According to the chroniclers of the day,
    the decapitated head of Constantin Balaceanu remained for quite a while impaled
    on a pole in front of his home. Brancoveanu then demolished the houses and
    built an inn that would become famous and which survived well into the 19th
    century. This was one of the most important inns in Bucharest, together with
    Gabroveni Inn and Manuc Inn.




    However, inns started to disappear in the
    first half of the 19th century. It was then that the Constantin
    Brancoveanu inn, which had fallen into in ruin, was demolished. A modern, tall
    building, emblematic for new and less troubled times was built on the site of
    the old inn. The new palace hosted the central post, a vital institution at the
    time, as it was the major means of communication. The building was designed by
    one of the first Romanian architects who studied in Paris. Historian Dan Falcan
    has more:


    The architect who received the mission to
    design and make the blueprints for the building, Alexandru Savulescu, together
    with the then director of the Post Service travelled extensively across Europe
    to see how the headquarters of the central posts in more developed countries
    looked like. They travelled extensively for two three years until they finally
    decided to design a building similar to the Central Post Office in Geneva. The
    current Postal Service Palace looks very much like the postal service palace in
    Geneva. Construction works started in 1894. For 32 years, between 1862, when
    Brancoveanu’s inn was demolished, and 1894, that vacant plot of land was used
    by travelling circuses that arrived in Bucharest. The cornerstone was laid in
    1894, with the royal family, King Carol I and Queen Elisabeta, in attendance.
    Construction works were completed in 1900. It is a grandiose building, as we
    can see it today. It cost a lot. Alexandru Savulescu was part of the generation
    of Romanian architects who had studied in Paris. They copied the eclectic,
    neoclassical style, which was in fashion in the French capital city back then.
    The Postal Service Palace was also built in that style. 10 Doric columns, with 9
    vaults, guard the façade.




    Since its inauguration in 1900, the Postal
    Service Palace had kept its function until 1971, when Romania’s National
    History Museum was laid out inside the building. The museum was inaugurated in
    1972 and is still open to visitors.