Oradea City Museum
Oradea City Museum can be found at Emanuil Gojdu Square 39-41, right in the Oradea Citadel, where you can enter through the West Gate from the Wooden Bridge and the East Gate from Redutei Street. The museum is closed on Mondays. From April to October, the museum is open from 10:00 - 18:00, and from 9:00 - 17:00 the rest of the year. The museum spans the A and B buildings of the Princely Palace and occupies 2 floors, the ground floor and basement. In September 2023, the price of a full admission ticket was 15 lei and a reduced ticket 5 lei.
The Museum of the City of Oradea is a section of the Museum Complex of the Cris Country Museum. It is a museum that presents the history of the city of Oradea. The museum is particularly thematically rich and diverse. Personally, I found it lacking a clear organization, even though when leaving the museum I expressed my admiration for what I visited. I was positively impressed by how large the museum is and how many themes it touches on.
The history of the place, proven by archaeological discoveries, reveals that this territory has been inhabited since prehistoric times, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age and the Dacian period. The first documentary record of Oradea dates back to 1113. In the Middle Ages, Oradea was an important economic, cultural and religious center, as evidenced by the presence of the Roman-Catholic Diocese of Oradea.
The museum highlights the 3 phases of development of Oradea Fortress, the Romanesque, the Gothic and the Renaissance. Nowadays, Oradea Fortress is a fortified fortress with 5 bastions, built in Italian style. In the museum there are organized exhibitions that also present the history of the monastery church, the Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals and the Renaissance princely palace. The fortress of Oradea had its heyday during the Renaissance and Humanism. We will also learn about the peoples who fought for the conquest and liberation of the city, whether they were Turks, Austrians, Kurds, Habsburgs. The information in the museum also covers the revolution of 1848 and the 20th century.
The latest archaeological discoveries are highlighted in the lapidarium where we see pillars, vaults, tombs, the ruins of the Gothic cathedral where the kings of Hungary Ladislaus the Holy and Sigismund of Luxembourg were buried, the imprint of the Romanesque basilica.
In addition to the main historical theme, the museum is home to permanent exhibitions such as a photography exhibition, a confession exhibition, a World War I exhibition depicting the role of General Traian Moșoiu, a communist exhibition, and a spectacular disco-themed room.
We go up to the first floor and follow the indicated directions. One room is called "From the Design Table to Realization". We pass through the columns and stop at the statue of a horse. In a larger adjoining space, Bleriot's 1909 airplane is on display, and further on, a combat vehicle. We learn about the process they go through from design to realization.
large horse model
coluane
Bleriot's plane
combat vehicle
"Matthias Corvinus Corvinus - Life at the Royal Court" is an exhibition organized by Hungarian curator Palotas Erikași. The exhibition is a very good one and shows some scenes from medieval life, including a royal table with its select messengers and servants fulfilling their roles. The model is three-dimensional, as Beatrice of Aragon brought Italian rules and etiquette to the royal court that were based on appearance. So a clean tablecloth or the order of table service began to matter.
royal family at the table
royal family
Royal family servants
During the Renaissance, the scientific revolution took off. Humanists contributed to the development of cognitive techniques. Branches of science developed. Authenticity of information became important. Astronomy and architecture are two of the sciences that evolved. Buildings begin to have a new architecture, especially palaces. The sciences developed in parallel with religion because the world could not be understood outside the religious context.
Science
Architecture
Religion
King Matei Corvin distinguished himself by the organization of his army and the wars he fought. In the room dedicated to medieval warfare, there is a scene of Matthew's officers resting after a victory. The guarantee of military success for army leaders is the loyalty of their subjects. Pál Kinski, or Pavel Kinski, the son of a Serbian noble family, had a remarkable military career, which was highlighted by his defense of the southern border of the Transylvanian Voivodeship in the 15th century in the battle against the Ottoman army. After the death of King Matei Corvin, Pál Kinski and Sigismund Báthori prevented Matei's son Ion Corvin from succeeding his father.
Matthew's War
war camp
methods of torture
We jump to a completely different historical period, that of the First World War at the beginning of the 20th century. Although bound by treaty to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Romania remained neutral between 1914 and 1916. It then sided with the Entente until 1917. Here, Romania's involvement was negotiated with the declared aim of annexing Transylvania and Bukovina to Romania. Thus, in three time sequences, the union of Bessarabia, Bukovina and Transylvania with Romania was achieved, a process that culminated on December 1, 1918. The Great Union was internationally recognized at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919-1920. More than 300,000 soldiers and 700,000 civilians died in the First World War. On April 20, 1919, the Romanian army led by General Traian Moșoiu began the liberation of Oradea.
General Traian Moșoiu
war shelter
the kindergarten
map of Greater Romania
A spectacular museum hall presents: Oradea in models. On display are models of the Bazaar, the National Theater, the Palace of Justice, the City Hall with its tower, the synagogue, the Roman-Catholic Episcopal Palace. Superb!
Bazaar and Theater
Palace of Justice
the town hall and its tower
Synagogue
Roman-Catholic Episcopal Palace
I wrote that the museum lacks logical organization. It is interesting what we see, but then suddenly we enter the room dedicated to World Water Day on March 22, 2023. Here we read information about the catchment area of the Criș rivers and accessories used in related activities.
the Criș rivers basin
specific equipment
lifeguard accessories
The extensive section presenting the history of photography in the city of Oradea and the collection of photographic art and techniques "Stefan Toth" is very appreciated and rich. It is a permanent exhibition of the museum. It attracts old cameras and cameras, old photographs, materials used in the old days such as color photographic paper and others. No less than 500 exhibits can be found here. Stefan Toth István has collected photographic equipment, materials and accessories for over 4 decades and donated them to the museum. along with more than 2,000 specialized books and photo albums.
old camera
photographic paper
photo album
Toth photographer's awards
We go up to the 2nd floor. Several rooms present the variety of religious denominations that have been and still are present in Oradea: Unitarians, Roman Catholics, Reformed, Orthodox, Greek Catholics, Jews. The Oradea Bible is also on display.
cult of St. Ladislaus
The Roman Catholic faith
reformed cult
Orthodox cult
The Greek-Catholic faith
The Jewish cult
We suddenly jump to an art exhibition where there are obviously paintings on display, but also some interesting fabrics.
art
paintings
painting
paintings
textile
Another sudden leap is made by the section that presents the firefighters of Biho where the vehicles used by the firefighters and the many accessories they are equipped with attract the attention. There is also a panel with the history of the Bihoren firefighters.
fire engine
fire engine
firefighter accessories
fire brigades
Another surprising theme. The last room on the second floor shows the disco atmosphere of the 1970s and 1980s. Here we see the old radio cassette player, the speakers, the soft drinks of those times, and on one wall we see John Lennon's composition "Imagine All the People Living Life in Peace", all displayed in disco lights and with the background sound of the songs played in them.
disco atmosphere
70s - 80s disco
chilled drinks
Imagine all the people
The last part of the visit is perhaps the most interesting. It takes place on the ground floor and below. We will see the major archaeological finds among which we can walk on a guided route. On the ground floor of the museum we discover the Romanesque and Gothic ecclesiastical architecture of Bihor. In the archeopark are the ruins of the sanctuary of the church of St. Mary the Virgin Mary the Little, built in the 12th century and destroyed by the Mongols. It was later rebuilt and became the second church next to the Gothic cathedral in the medieval city. In the 16th century it was demolished by Prince Stefan Báthori, the stones recovered were reused to build the outer walls of the citadel, and in the 17th century the Princely Palace was built on top of the demolished church. One room presents "Churches in the Palace".
archaeological finds
churches in the palace
discoveries
original fresco
lapidarium
The Museum of the City of Oradea should be visited at leisure, this is the impression I got after my first visit here. Spend 1 - 2 hours for this visit, which would be even more valuable if it were guided.
Visit the Oradea City Museum, which you can also read about on its website https://mtariicrisurilor.ro/muzeul-orasului-oradea/.
Take a tour of the Oradea Fortress, which you can read about here https://mytravel.express/obiective-mte/cetatea-oradea/, but also a tour of the beautiful city following the tour guide https://mytravel.express/ghiduri-mte/ghid-turistic-oradea/.
All the best!
Steps:
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