A special visit to the National Museum of  Romanian Literature in Bucharest

The National Museum of Romanian Literature in Bucharest won the 2021 DASA Award.  The director, Professor Ioan Cristescu, invited EMA to visit the museum and have a meeting with local directors as well discussing possible areas of cooperation for the future. Our President, Andreja Rihter and our Scientific Director, Massimo Negri, spent two days (17-18 June) there visiting the main exhibition venue, the administrative headquarters, the library and storage, plus two houses where celebrated Romanian writers lived, and which are now preserved as museums – the Anton Pann Memorial House and the Tudor Arghezi Memorial House.  The visit confirmed the good decision made by the jury as the museum presents several effective ideas in exhibiting books, manuscripts, photographs and other archive materials which always represent a challenge from the museographical point of view. A strong point of this institution is given by the managerial approach of its director who, although coming from the academic world and being a qualified scholar, gives a lot of energy to develop a young team of people devoted to the mission of the museum and is very active in creating new initiatives and finding the right solution for complex problems. The exhibition design is very pleasant, practical and innovative for this kind of collection, which is the work of the Zeppelin Studio, a group of creative Romanian architects based in Bucharest and Barcelona.

This visit was also the occasion to discuss various topics in view of future common initiatives offering a good example of the spirit of EMA. Winning an award is, for us, the beginning of a dialogue and not simply a recognition of what has been achieved.

Virgil Stefan Nitulescu, an EMA expert who has worked with us for a very long time and is a distinguished museologist at the European level, also accompanied us on a highly interesting visit to Sinaia with its rich heritage, helping us to a better understanding of Romanian cultural history.To all the NMRL staff and to Virgil our sincere gratitude for the impeccable hospitality and the intensive programme.