Village Museum, Bucharest

In the March ’08 issue, page 59, a reader wrote that he was disappointed with the outdoor Village Museum in Bucharest, Romania. We were in Bucharest in September ’07 and found the Village Museum to be wonderful. It is located on the banks of a pretty little lake, with native trees, shrubs and flowers all around. Houses and other outbuildings from all over Romania were dismantled, taken there and reassembled. Most are from the 1800s.

We were lucky to be there while they were working on a house. It was very interesting to see them put it back together. Some of the houses had thatch roofs and some were built half underground. We saw a few with outdoor ovens.

The doors to these homes are unlocked and you are encouraged to walk in. They are furnished with beds, tables, wall hangings, rugs and kitchen items from the time period the houses are from. They even brought the wooden fences that were around the homes. They all have different designs cut into the wood. The Romanians were very good woodworkers.

Also at the Village Museum are wooden churches, grain mills and presses, boats and a still that they used to make plum liqueur. There were two windmills, one large and one small, each on a rotating base. They could move the windmill to face the wind no matter which way the wind was blowing. Wasn’t that clever of them? They also had a small, manually operated Ferris wheel for the kids and a merry-go-round with wooden horses.

All these homes and buildings were connected by very nice, level walkways, with very few stairs. Restrooms and trashcans were scattered around the village. There was a very small gift shop and a place to buy snacks and drinks.

We had only a few hours before lunch to visit and, sadly to say, we did not get to see the entire village. I would highly recommend the outdoor Village Museum to everyone who visits Bucharest.

SUSAN WEBB

Silver Spring, NV