Radio România Internațional

Tag: pottery

  • Tourism Fairs in Bucharest

    Tourism Fairs in Bucharest


    The autumn edition of Romania’s Tourism Fair was held in Bucharest over November 10 and 13. Visitors had the chance to find out about the newest and the most interesting tourism offers. Participating in the fair were travel agencies, accommodation and leisure units but also local tourism authorities, national and international. Apart from the promotions offered ahead of the coming winter holidays, travel aficionados could buy tourism packages for up to 50% off the market price, The event was jointly staged by the Romexpo Exhibition Centre, Romania’s Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Romania’s Travel Agencies Owners’ Association.



    A biologist with the Iron Gates Nature Park Administration, Amalia Dumbravă has invited us to explore a protected area of national interest, lying in south-western Romania, an area with a very special ethnic and biological diversity.



    We have come up with a cross-border project, by means of which we promote nature heritage but also cultural assets, from Romania and Bulgaria. A series of virtual tours will be on offer as an invitation, so that people may become aware of the beauty of the scenery, and in a bid to invite people to explore the habitat of the nature parks, of the protected areas. The project has kicked off already. The included assets have already been scanned in a 3D format, using the specific technology and photogrammetry. Tourist can simulate a flight over our territory. There where there is something they might be interested in, they can have a stopover at the 3D assets.



    Techirghiol is a balneal resort on the Romanian Black Sea Coast. Lying at 16 kilometers from Constanta, on the shores of Techirghiol lake, it is open all year round. Techirghiol is known for the qualities of the mineralized salty waters and the sapropelic mud, used in the treatment of several serious or less serious conditions. With details on that, here is an inspector with Techirghiol Municipality’s projects department, Melisa Regep.



    I have come to the Tourism Fair as part of a project. The project is themed Enhancing tourism attractivity in Techirghiol balneal resort, and is carried through We Promote the Town, an operational-sectorial project which has seen a very beautiful development, with the lake shore promenade and the pier, with cycle paths, with offers of treatment with our famous mud. As we speak, we are Romania’s top-of the-chart balneal resort and we won a great number of awards. Our treatment facilities are open all year round. Of these, the most famous is the Techirghiol Sanatorium. Following is Saint Mary Monastery, a renowned asset, with its own treatment facility .



    A great many craftsmen participated in Romanian Tourism Fair’s Autumn Edition. Nicolae Les is the son of Dan Les, a potter. Nicolae promotes the tradition of pottery.



    The trade was handed down to me by my father and by my grandfather. We work in ceramic. We draw our inspiration from the Maramures traditional ceramic, to which we add a significant contemporary touch, through color or through shape. We’re mostly visited by foreign tourists from Germany, Belgium, France, Great Britain, the United States of America. Foreign tourists seem to better appreciate the tourist potential in our region. They’re very happy with what they got as they go back home. They recommend us, also taking with them, further afield, beyond frontiers, our story, the story of Maramures.



    Claudiu Dobrican is a head councilor with Maramures County Council. He told us Maramures was a brand in itself.



    It has compelled recognition thanks to our unsophisticated people who open up their hearts to their guests. When you come over, they would offer you the best food and the best plum brandy. Apart from that, we have lots of tourist assets. In Borsa, we have the most modern ski slope in Maramures, it was opened last year. It is 3.6 kilometers long. We have our towering peaks, also in the region of Borsa. Maramures is divided in four regions. The Lapus Country, The Chioar Country, The Codru (Woods) Country and the Historical Maramures. Country. In historical Maramures, you can see lots of traditional Maramures gates, monasteries. We have Europe’s tallest wooden church, a UNESCO monument. Also, the Barsana monastery is renowned for its beauty. In Săpânța, the Merry Cemetery is the main asset. We have Christmas and New Year’s Eve Party offers. The New Year’s Eve Party offers have been kind of sold out, but we also have some available offers for Christmas. At that time of the year, you can see lots of traditions, you can hear authentic carols. We wholeheartedly wait for you in Maramures, a place of wonder.



    Georgiana Ungureanu works for the Targoviste-based Princely Court Museum Compound. At the fair, Georgiana presented Dambovita County, which has a wide range of tourist assets.



    We have a beautiful mountain region, where we can find the Ialomita-Bucegi cave, but also a special town, Targoviste, with the Chindia Tower while nearby Bucharest, only 30 kilometers away we can find the Brancoveanu Palace in Potlogi. I would invite the tourists to visit the Bucegi Mountains’ mountainous region. Apart from the Ialomita Cave, they can see the Bolboci Lake. In another development, inside the Ialomita Cave, tourists can discover a breathtaking waterfall and a route upgraded according to European standards, with platforms and small bridges. At this time of the year, in winter, they will see icy stalactites and stalagmites.



    Niculai Barbă is the vice-president of Suceava County Council. As an absolute first, Niculai Barba told Radio Romania International that, in Bukovina, 2023 would be the Ciprian Porumbescu Year. Therefore, a great number of events will be staged, dedicated to the renowned Romanian composer whose compositions were selected for the Romanian but also for the Albanian anthem.



    This year, even though Bukovina means tradition, we have also come up with a couple of new things. It is for the first time ever when the County Council and the National Tourism Promotion and Information Centre have come up with other tourism-involved institutions. Specifically, it is about several municipalities that will be part of a future organization known as Bukovina Tourism Management. It will have a regional scope and, in effect, it will be the first organization of its kind established at national level. At this edition of the fair, apart from the tourism promotion for the County of Suceava, you can also find craftsmen, local cuisine, especially targeting the winter holidays. All these will be rounded off by stage performances of the Ciprian Porumbescu professional artistic ensemble. It is our usual way of promoting Bukovina. At the fair, we mainly focus on the promotion of the Christmas feast. This year, allow me to tell all our listeners that the Christmas celebration in Bukovina means Christmas in the family. We are prepared to receive our guests, with their entire family.



    Also as part of the Tourism Fair, the Entrepreneurship and Tourism Ministry has launched the Cultural-Tourist Route known as Traditional Craftsmen and Traditional Crafts from Romania. (EN)





  • Romania and its still rich rural past

    Romania and its still rich rural past


    We’re
    opening up for you, today, the gates of a museum which is a real-size replica
    of old-time and traditional Bukovina. Established in the 1970s, the Bukovina Village Museum has been included, since
    2004, in the heritage list of Suceava County’s historical monuments. We’re
    having a walk around the alleys of the museum only to discover households and
    tools which are specific for the rural activities, but also craftsmen and handicraft
    items. The director of the Bukovina Village Museum, Dr. Constantin-Emil Ursu, is
    our guide today. Dr Ursu told us the establishment was one of Romania’s
    youngest traditional art outdoor museums.


    Our museum mainly focuses on wooden architecture which is traditional in
    this region. Suceava County’s forest-covered surface area accounts for 60%, and
    is Romania’s second-largest such area. We know all too well wood has been the
    staple material in the building of the Bukovina village, where, jointly with
    Romanians, people of other ethnic groups have led their lives: German, Polish,
    Ukrainians, Jews or Italians. Our museum is an attempt at reconstructing a
    village with everything that at that time was available, regarding households, community
    constructions or the technical installations that partially stand proof of the
    area’s crafts and, of course, of the Bukovina locals’ way of life. Each
    micro-zone has a life of its own. So, as part of the Village Museum, you can
    even visit a pottery workshop, but also a local pub, a little church, which is
    still functional, a school and suchlike. Since it is one of the youngest museums,
    we have opened nearly half of the surface area that was mentioned in the final stage
    of the project, 2.2 hectares of thereabouts. Yet that area is very illustrative
    for the essence of the Bukovina village. As for our second surface area, there
    are self-contained households erected on the premises, yet the infrastructure does
    not exist, for the time being.


    We
    asked the director of the Bukovina National Museum, Dr. Constantin-Emil Ursu,
    to speak about the layout of the various structures as part of the Bukovina
    Village Museum.

    The objectives have not been placed thematically.
    They are incorporated in the territory of the village. There are several households,
    then the mill follows, placed on the banks of a rivulet that flows through the
    village, then you can see the church, opposite the school, and so on. We have
    tried to recreate the image of a traditional Bukovina village using the interiors
    as well, which makes a very good impression on our visitors. The items we have
    range from towels and wall carpets to ovens and stoves, extremely different
    from one another. Of course, we have traditional
    furniture and traditional apparel pieces. Almost all that we have in this museum
    is functional, including, for instance, the ironware of the recreated village. Also,
    the educational activities hold pride of place with us. Unfortunately, traditional
    crafts have disappeared, little by little, or have become less interesting. We
    have gone at all lengths, to the best of our abilities, to gather as many
    children as possible, for the summer months, so they can learn the ropes of a
    certain craft, yet there’s more to it than that, we’ve been meaning to get them
    understand what the creation of a traditional object means.


    Throughout the year, on the premises of the Bukovina Village
    Museum, all sorts of events are being staged. They promote the craftsmanship
    objects, traditional art, in general, but also the simple and clean way of life
    of the Bukovina village. The director of the Bukovina
    Village Museum, Dr. Constantin-Emil Ursu.




    The largest number of
    visitors we have has been drawn by
    the event themed Come, people, come to the fair ! It is a different kind
    of fair, it doesn’t only have traditional products, it also has music and
    stylized traditional products. It has been spoken of a lot, and people still talk
    about it, the embroidered peasant blouse, that is. The traditional embroidered
    blouse has been center-stage in the world of fashion. Yet we can equally speak
    like that about jewels. Visitors can also find household items: mugs, plates
    and suchlike. Very many visitors have turned up to place orders, for instance,
    for pottery in a guesthouse, for jewelry shops, for leatherware, and so on. We
    tried to stage an event that can also give a boost to the local economy.


    Of course, tourists’ feedback was quick to appear. Therefore,
    they view the museum as a landmark, as a tourist asset you shouldn’t miss while
    on a stay in Suceava County. Constantin-Emil Ursu once again.


    We’ve equally enjoyed our success
    with the foreign and the Romanian tourists. Unfortunately, the rural world is not
    that well represented in the urban areas any more. There are generations that
    no longer have grandparents in the rural regions, they’ve grown up and studied
    abroad. These youngsters view the Bukovina Village Museum as a curiosity. Obviously,
    our museum charms the foreign tourists. As part of the permanent exhibition, for
    three objectives, we tried to reconstruct the traditional rites of passage:
    baptism, wedding and funeral. Now, speaking about craftsmen once again, we have
    a dedicated stand in the museum. In another development, for the summer season,
    starting in May, there are a couple of craftsmen who put up for sale the items
    they hand-crafted, on the premises, at the museum.


    The director of the Bukovina National Museum, Dr.
    Constantin-Emil Ursu, says they have plans for the future. These plans will
    stick to establishment’s present characteristic, that of a living museum.


    The Suceava County Council has already
    signed a contract, and the design for the second part of the museum will follow.
    Many of the problems will be solved, starting with the infrastructure and the preservation
    and completion of certain households. The contract has received European
    funding. Also, we have received a donation, a church included on the historical
    monuments list. It will be placed in the perimeter of the second development stage
    for our museum. We hope for the second church to be opened to visitors as well,
    just as the one we have today is, lying in the first perimeter, the Customs
    Church. The latter church becomes functional once the Holy Week begins. We have
    a priest who has been generously distributed to us by the Radauti and Suceava Archbishopric.
    So tourists can also attend masses until the final part of year in November. We’re
    trying to give a new lease of life to our objectives, as far as the law allows
    and as long as the functions can be reenacted.


    We have launched our invitation! In the hopes that we have
    talked you into visiting the Bukovina Village Museum, next time we extend an
    invitation to Romania’s smallest national park, the Buila-Vanturarita National Park.
    Yet the tourist offer there is impressive.

    (EN)