“The Dracula Investigation” – an exhibition opened in Sighisoara, central Romania

Eight young people have developed an interesting project in Sighisoara

Ana-Maria Cononovici, 04.02.2020, 14:00

Eight Romanian-born Dutch brothers
very fond of Romania’s history, as they were raised in Sighisoara, a medieval city
in central Romania, one day decided to enrich the travel offer of the city of
their childhood. We recall that this medieval city in central Romania is
arguably a top travel destination for all those interested in visiting
Transylvania.

So, the eight brothers decided to
open an interactive exhibition as an invitation into the fascinating world of
Wallachian ruler Vlad Tepes, aka Dracula, who was born in Sighisoara in 1431.
He inherited the name from his father, a nobleman who had been admitted to the monarchical
chivalric Order of the Dragon founded by Hungarian king Sigismund of
Luxembourg.

Tepes, who achieved notoriety
thanks to Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula, ruled Wallachia in 1448, then
again between 1456 and 1462 and in 1476. The exhibition bears a suggestive
name, ‘The Dracula Investigation and is presenting major historic events and
moments in the life of this famous Wallachian ruler. One of the initiators of
this project is 26-years old Timon who told us how things started rocketing.

Timon: For many years we had
seen a real exodus of young people lea

ving Sighisoara, in search of a better
future. Also very few are getting involved in fresh projects and activities for
tourists. After a couple of hours of sightseeing, tourists are usually leaving
the city as there is not much to see. And we believed we could change that one
day. It was a long process, we did a lot of talking and had arguments, but in
the end we came up with something good. Now we are also considering other
projects, we also have divergent opinions but we know than we shouldn’t take
them personally. We initially wanted to take up design too, and this is how we
hired Silvia, because we cannot do everything.

Stage designer Silvia Ioana
Horobeanu told us how she joined the project.

Silvia: I got contacted by
Timon who told me about the project and I thought it was interesting that
someone may want to present our history in such a new way. I came up with a
modern, minimalist version of the exhibition, as I believe in simplicity when
you have to present major moments in history. I was also considering the idea
of screening animated films in several rooms.

The exhibition consists of animated
films, shadow performances, molded artefacts and visitors are invited to all
the exhibition’s five rooms where the Wallachian ruler is telling the story of
his life. This interesting exhibition is combining technology and history
because those who initiated the project are young people. Here is Timon’s younger
brother Lemre with more.

Lemre: I like this medieval
thing because I like history a lot. We knew we had potential but didn’t exactly
know what we could do. Then we thought of Sighisoara, the city of our
childhood, a beautiful city in Transylvania on UNESCO’s heritage list. And when
people think of Transylvania, they think of Dracula first without any concern
for the real story. They prefer to think of vampires and all that stuff. We
believed the true story is also interesting and we wanted to present it in a
unique manner.

Design was created from scratch in
this exhibition showcasing events from the life of the famous Wallachian ruler.
Here is Silvia Ioana Horobeanu with more on the issue.

Silvia: I wanted something
special, I wanted to impress. Because the main story was actually placed
outside we had to figure out how to bring that atmosphere inside in these
halls. In order to achieve that atmosphere of authenticity, my idea was to pave
the rooms with gravel, to recreate that specific outdoor sound. The boys hated
me for that as they have to carry a lot of gravel inside, but the final result
eventually paid off.

Several Romanian artists, from
sculptors to narrators, have also joined the efforts to put in place this
special exhibition, which takes visitors 20 minutes to see it all. Organizers
are open to criticism and visitors can get their money back if they aren’t
satisfied with what they see in this exhibition, which, like the Old Princely
Court in Bucharest or the palace in Targoviste, southern Romania, may enable
visitors to get a clear picture of the famous Wallachian ruler.