Traveling, walking, and visiting the Astra Ethnographic Museum near Sibiu was and is an adventure. An adventure of discovery, learning, and knowing the past of a country, in this case Romania, through exhibits that evoke life in the country.
An ethnographic museum is where objects, costumes, tools, and machinery that reflect the life and customs of a community are preserved and exhibited.
Astra Museum Sibiu is the most important ethnographic museum in Romania and the largest in Europe. It is set in a protected natural area in a forest on the outskirts of Sibiu, perhaps the most beautiful town in Romania. The museum resembles a big village, the alleys are ten kilometers long!
I spent almost a whole day there, took many photos, and didn't manage to present them in one blog. This is the last part, and the other three that preceded it are these:
Astra Museum Sibiu
Young And Free
Windmills In Astra Museum Sibiu
In this last part, I try to show you the museum from the windmills area to the complex's exit...
At the end of the alley, we came across a building that housed all kinds of carts.
When we got close enough we found the explanation: transportation.
A lot of wheels, each one more beautiful. I tried to imagine what those people were like, from the beginning of the last century and even older, dressed in festive clothes, in these carriages.
Other means of transport are used for field work and crop transportation.
Tools and accessories...
Local craftsmen, carpenters, and blacksmiths made all these carts and tools.
I am thinking now, looking at the photos and remembering the immensity of the museum that just walking through the forest is enough to enjoy nature and relaxation, the lack of crowds, the pleasant coolness of the shade of the trees and the lake water.
Because I mentioned the lake, I really got close to it and some things specific to the life of the peasants who lived near the water... A place to rest and eat.
It looks like a boat, hollowed out of a single tree trunk.
Dugout!
It is quite a primitive and unwieldy construction, in my opinion, but I think the ancient inhabitants of the waters have done their job with it.
Next, I saw something more elaborate and was amazed, I hadn't seen such installations in other museums.
I couldn't find out who was pulling the bridge. Could one man have done it?
So the ferryman lived right next to the bridge!
Also, looking at the photos taken, I realized that it can be done something else in this museum, bird watching!
What I thought were two lovers looking for a secluded place to stay away from people turned out to be just a desire to watch waterfowl.
There are no houses, no tools, just nature alone, a sign that the end is near.
I mean at the end of the museum visit!
Just like at the beginning, at the end, we also came across a modern wooden sculpture, which probably helped to get out of the museum's old-life atmosphere. What could it be, a bird?
It was an amazing day and I am sure I will be back.
Astra Museum Sibiu
Pădurea Dumbrava Street, nr. 16-20, gate 1, 550399 Sibiu
Email: office@muzeulastra.com
Entrance ticket prices:
Adults - $7
Pupils/students - $2
Children under 6 years - free
Visit program:
Monday – Sunday: 09:00 - 17:00 (last ticket at 16:30)
