Ethnographic Park in Cluj-Napoca it is located on Tăietura Turcului Street at the intersection with the alley of the Ethnographic Museum, the latter being an unpaved street, on which we can park. It can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday, from March to October from 10 am to 6 pm, in the rest of the months it closes 1 hour earlier. Last admission is allowed 1 hour before the park closes. A full admission ticket costs 11 RON and a reduced ticket costs 2,75 RON. Tickets can also be purchased online.
Ethnographic Park in Cluj-Napoca is named after Romulus Vuia and is the first open-air museum in Romania. The park was established on June 1, 1929, as a section of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania. Its father was the ethnographer Romulus Vuia. He envisioned it as a park with inhabited rural households, where peasants could present traditional activities. The park was badly damaged in World War II. The new concept dates back to 1956 and belongs to Teodor Onișor and Valer Butură. Today the Romulus Vuia National Ethnographic Park is part of the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania.
Watch a video about the park here.
In the first part of the park we find old houses from areas where various activities specific to the area were carried out. We can see the stone house, the oil press, the grape press, the blacksmith's shop, the gold and wool press and others. The installations and machinery used for these activities are also on display.
potter's house in Josenii Bârgăului (BN)
potter's house
living room
Oil press in Poșaga (AB)
oil jug
grape press in Moșna (SB)
grape press
stonemason's house in Almașu Mare (AB)
house and workshop
Engineered stones
At the back of the main entrance there are several traditional peasant households from different ethnographic areas of Transylvania. The buildings date back to the 17th-20th centuries and show the houses with their rooms, the attic, the cellar, the cellar, the awning, the well, but also the outbuildings equipped with specific tools or the stable or the barn.
household from Cămârzana (SM)
courtyard
household annex
Telciu (BN)
courtyard entrance
agricultural machinery
household in Bedeciu (CJ)
the courtyard and houses
the stable
cool little house
household in Jelna (BN)
household house
well with overhang
household annex
Romanian wooden church
household in Galda de Sus (AB)
gate
cellar
tinda
soba
carved gate
household in Almaș (AR)
living room
bridge
household in Berbești (MM)
household outbuildings
fountain
courtyard and annexes
There are no less than three old wooden Romanian churches in the ethnographic park: the Church of Cizer, Sălaj county, built in 1773 by Nicola Ursu; the Church of Chiraleș, Bistrița Năsăud county, from the 17th century and the Church of Petrindu, Sălaj county, dating from 1612. At one of them I caught a baptism service in progress.
church in Cizer (SJ)
Romanian wooden church
catapeteasma
painted icon
church in Petrindu (SJ)
balcony in the turret
Romanian wooden church
Ethnographic Park in Cluj-Napoca is the oldest open-air museum in Romania. It's worth a relaxing stroll through the old houses to immerse yourself for an hour or more in traditional village life from centuries past. The park deserves to be better organized, open all the houses and why not showcased crafts to attract more tourists. The day of my visit coincided with the World Public Knitting and Crocheting Day organized in this park, a commendable action, thus meeting more artisans at work.
All the best!
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