The National History Museum of Romania

Over 350,000 single users have registered for digital exhibitions and projects of the The National History Museum of Romania in April

Daniel Onea, 14.05.2020, 14:00

Over 350,000 single users have registered for digital exhibitions and projects of the The National History Museum of Romania in April. The institution invited the public to turn self-isolation into an opportunity by visiting the many virtual exhibitions in 2D and 3D, thematic collections in digital format and digitized archives, all available for free on the museum website.

48 years ago, on May 8, The National History Museum of Romania opened its gates for the first time to the public. Due to the present context, the gates of the museum are closed, and will stay that way until May 15, when lockdown measures are being relaxed in Romania. However, the Internet attendance is through the roof, as we found out from Dr. Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, the director of the institution:

“There are collections of many hundreds of thousands of pieces, many of them essential for understanding Romanian history, but not only that. Many are unique in Europe, and are part of human heritage. Our collections, chronologically, cover about 600,000 years of human life, meaning from the Lower Paleolithic, when the first signs of human life appear, down to the present day. I am not exaggerating, because we have in our collections documents on the economic, political, and social life of contemporary Romania.”

The National History Museum of Romania said that as early as ten years ago they started an intense process of digitization, as we were told by the director of the institution:

“We are talking about virtual tours of the permanent and temporary exhibitions, but also about projects to digitize the patrimony. At this moment, The National History Museum of Romania has the richest, mot complete and diverse program of displaying its collections digitally. These cover the modern, contemporary, Medieval, and ancient heritage of foreign museums in temporary exhibitions. At the same time, you can see the results of international exhibitions, in partnerships with several European museums, such as the Balkan Images exhibition.”

The virtual tourist can find exhibitions that can be visited any hour of the day, from any place on the planet:

“They cover major periods of history, the Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the modern and contemporary periods. One of the last exhibitions we brought to the public was that dedicated to the 1989 Revolution, about the fall of the communist regime, with which many of us were contemporary. We have superb virtual exhibitions showcasing Romanias gold and silver. It is a 2013 exhibition that traveled through many counties in Romania and Hungary, with exceptional exhibits of Romanian patrimony, some of them unique in Europe and the entire world. We also have exhibitions dedicated to great rulers of the Middle Ages, such as Mircea the Old and Stephen the Great. You can also enjoy exhibitions that showcase major moments in Romanian history, such as WWII or the national union of 1918.”

These exhibitions also include a virtual museum of the Grand Union, as we were told by Dr. Ernest Oberländer-Târnoveanu, the director of the institution, our virtual guide today:

“In 2018, my colleagues, in partnership with several museums in Romania and Europe, have prepared and are still working on a virtual museum of the Union. In addition, we have several ample and very interesting virtual projects. For instance, we have Imago Romaniae, it is a website with over 12,800 historical images of the Romanian space: photos, postcards, maps, and lithographs that cover contemporary history, up until 1947. It is a fascinating opportunity to travel the Romania as it was through the last few centuries, and to see not only some places that have remained unchanged to this day, but also people. A country is not only its geography or its towns and villages, it is also its inhabitants.”

Another ample virtual project for the National History Museum of Romania is called 2019, Masterpieces of the National Cultural Heritage.

“Right now, we have 71 virtual exhibitions built around very important exhibits in our collection. It is also a presentation of secret history. You can have only so much in a museum label. Which is why we felt the need to make exhibitions dedicated to that object, and to the people whose life revolved around it, from the moment it was created to the moment it became a museum piece. We never thought we were going to close down the museum in peacetime, but we prepared to be present in the virtual space, one in which our contemporaries, be they domestic or foreign, are present more and more, and where we transfer more and more of our activities, including cultural activities.”

The best thing about these tours is that they can be taken at any time, from any place. In addition, with such rich exhibitions, you can spend quite a lot of time on the websites made by the National History Museum of Romania.