In his opening speech at the inauguration of the Village Museum, Professor D. Gusti said: "…We did not have the example of open air museums from the northern countries, such as Skansen, Bigdo or Lillehammer. They convey us too much romantic and ethnographical merit, focusing on the "values" and museum "exponents" rather than on the present man and his everyday preoccupations… Our museum is not of ethnographical value, but conveys social messages." I am not aware of the number of visitors during the "Bucharest Month" that have really been touched by this fundamental difference, from the very first time they met the Museum. I strongly believe, though, that the impression of "Romanian reality" and of "authenticity" overwhelmed us all. It is not quite a common thing for structure and genuine beauty to grow from a synthesis created by man's hand and mind. In spite of the region diversity gathered in one place – we find here houses from Ţara Oaşului, Argeş, Bărăgan, Banat, Bihor and Ilfov – everything comes together in harmony, revealing the icon of a charming rural Romanian civilization. H. H. Stahl's assumption is correct: we are the largest and most spread rural civilization. The experience that the members of the Royal Foundations had in the 30 days spent among the 130 Romanian craftsmen from all over the country bears incredible values. Students and young scholars could see that "all those peasants, regardless of their origins, may they come from Bessarabia or Banat, from Maramureş or Dolj could understand each other perfectly: they speak the same language, share the same customs, the same set of life values and beauty assessment, the same way of taking care of their household, even in the absence of a role model. This is a good thing, though, since everything is alive, spontaneous, strong, resembling genuine life." (H. H. Stahl)The fundamental unity, enriched by the spontaneity and initiative of every region, is not only a matter of rural civilization pride; it is the key to our understanding of all the other Romanian spiritual manifestations, both collective and individual. Inside the Village Museum the remarkable unity of Romanian language explains itself – Romanian is the only language that lacks dialects. It is a permanent centripetal spiritual force present within every Romanian event throughout history; it is the force that keeps the people together, the language and the religious life. Although spread over wide territories, from the Balkans to the Tatra mountains, from the Adriatic Sea to the Dniester river, the Romanian people does not mistake its nucleus. The spine of this civilization, as it was called, is represented by the Carpathian Mountains. The social cohesion proved strong even in the vicinity of peoples of a different race and historical rhythm. The Romanians are the first state founders in this region, witnessing continuity in state administration. Foreign influences are even more spectacular. Dacia was always a land crossed by the strongest European and Eastern civilizations. Influences never stopped to manifest themselves while the Romanian people was still developing into a civilization. These influences never ceased to be a presence until today. They engulfed a social dimension through the dominant class (for example, a Byzantine, Royal, Slav way of life) or in the peasants' class (Bogomilism). The utmost creative test that this people passed was preserving its social and emotional integrity while having assimilated a multitude a spiritual influences. The power of creation within the frame of mind is the unitary village civilization. Stylistic harmony is the watermark of Romanian historic and spiritual phenomenon. To prove it, we need to turn to our modern culture which is not, however, rooted in rural values and which chooses peasants as receivers only occasionally. This is a unique example in the history of European culture. Romanians consider Ion Creanga a classic writer belonging to the modern age. His work can be read and understood by the entire range of social classes, in all the provinces of our country. In spite of the abundant presence of Moldavian words in his writings, the work would not remain a stranger to its readers. What other European culture can take pride in having a classic writer read by all categories of readers?The rhetorical accents of Italian literature, as underlined by Borghese, deny the Italian peasants with no humanist studies the writings of Dante, Petrarca, Carducci and D'Annunzio. La Fontaine may be accessible to a large mass of people in France, still the French Classicism of Montaigne, Racine, Stendhal is beyond the intellectual reach of many readers. In Germany and Russia (maybe Tolstoy's late works make an exception) or in the northern countries the situation is more or less similar.The fundamental oneness of the Romanian spiritual phenomena can be seized even today. Romania is the only European country where the greatest novelist is at the same time the most popular, that is accessible to any person that can read. Both a peasant and a scholar can eagerly read Ion and The Revolt by Liviu Rebreanu. Let us think now about another country displaying a similar phenomenon. Can the common Frenchman read Proust? Or can any German read Thomas Mann, can Galsworthy be read by every Englishman or D'Annunzio by all Italians? However, Liviu Rebreanu is not the only example. Many of the contemporary Romanian creators, accessible or not to a diverse audience, bear the stylistic seal of the popular language. No matter how strange this may seem, we can resort to Brâncuşi or Lucian Blaga to prove it…One can hardly trace dogmatic or oppressive thoughts throughout the entire stability of the Romanian social and spiritual frame of mind. You must visit the Village Museum to grasp the amazing polymorphism of our rural civilization. The eye is enchanted by fresh forms, harsh or graceful, serious or delicate. Geometry is at its best here, with a sense of delighting harmony; fragile contours of the ocean, faded images and profiles of the plant reign or underwater algae. The experimented eye and the stern memory would discover here something more than sheer environment adaptation (fabric and size diversity, household economy); they could discover stylistic relations with ancient forms and cultures. All these relations, variations, inventions unite; all forms turn into pure creation and imagination. Only the contemplation of an Indian monument can reward the viewer with similar wonders. Resembling the Indian architectonics and iconography, Romanian popular art avoids patterns, avoids the technique of "filling space" by endless repetition of the same form. Imitating the initial and fundamental gesture of life – creation, renewal, outrunning – very close to life itself, the peasants' sensibility is not limited by patterns or aesthetic taboos. New forms are continuously being born. Mr. H. H. Stahl's testimonial is crucial. "Sometimes we engaged in dangerous actions, because our only rule was authenticity for the sake of preserving local style. But if they thought their neighbours had done a better or nicer job than theirs, they would have immediately destroy the entire work only to build a couple of Gorj-style pillars for a house in Tulcea. They had plenty of wood and brick. Sometimes, they felt sorry to spoil building material on authenticity. But they always had a saying: either you build a nice house, original in style, or you left it undefined…" The freshness and spontaneity of peasants' intuition is resumed in few words: "if they thought their neighbours had done a better or nicer job than theirs…" Those who speak of "a passive life style" or of "darkness" or "reactionary mentality" are not very well informed. The Village Museum stands for the creative resources and renewal desires of the peasants. They are the masters of their on creativity, of their own wishes, of their own response to renewal according to their needs and initiative. The rural civilization may seem static from outside, but its core is rejuvenation and restless creation (a quality present with folklore, as well). Creation is not completed at random. The sensitivity and intuition of the Romanian peasant are able to restore, to transform, to melt in new forms any material that it absorbs. A townsman may find the rural civilization too static, but he is actually confronted to the continuity of stylistic unity. Townspeople in Romania have seen so much and assimilated those things at high speed that "life" and "dynamism" have come to mean simultaneity of styles, loops, perfect imitations, hybridization…
by Mircea Eliade (1907-1986)
