Crafts, People and Places

Born from people’s ability to perceive and appreciate cultural and natural values, the folk art in Neamţ area expresses the peasants’ outlook and sensitivity, their aesthetic beliefs and their artistic refinement. It uses a coded and very rich language. The ancient symbols preserved, although they lost their original meaning, bring to life the echo of a rich spiritual life, making the steady foundation of folk traditions, and becoming a source of inspiration for contemporary creation.

Artisans, past and present, have contributed to the ever richer folk art in Neamţ County, encoding in wood, clay, metal, leather, weaving and needlework, their spiritual wealth in diverse artistic forms and styles, creating the interesting local specificity. Owing to the artisans’ craft, the richness and diversity of folk art in the Neamţ County give the unique character of the objects.

Bălţăteşti – Agapia – Tarpeşti – Tirgu Neamţ – Vînători-Neamţ – Pipirig

Bălţăteşti

In Bălţăteşti Commune, Neamţ County, the handicraft of weaving is carried forward by the popular craftsmen Maria and Iulian Mihalachi. Neamţ County is blessed with a multitude of traditions in folk art, but also with gifted people willing to keep the tradition alive and pass it on, from generation to generation. One of the most famous crafts in Neamţ area is the craft of weaving.

The technique used by Mihalachi family is a popular technique in the area, namely:  weaving in horizontal warp (stands), using natural wool or wool colored using natural dye in various colors. The fabrics are made using both traditional motifs specific to Neamţ area and stylizations for abstract motifs.

Phone: 0724 365 313, 0728 028 423

E-mail: mariamihalachi@yahoo.com

Agapia

Ever since the nineteenth century, several workshops of various trades appeared within Agapia Nunnery, which was established in 1803, soon after the transformation of the monastery into a nunnery. At that time, the carpets and embroidery workshops were established, as well as the fabric and mohair weaving workshop.

The oldest and most important tradition in the monastery is carpet weaving. In the beginning, the carpets were made with traditional Moldavian models, of dyed wool, using only natural dyes made from plants. Many patterns of the carpets made in the nineteenth century can be still admired today by visiting the museum of the nunnery. The tradition of carpet weaving has been preserved until today, the nuns from Agapia working handmade wool rugs with various models: Moldavian, Oltenian, national, etc.

Besides the above-mentioned workshops, Agapia Nunnery also hosts tailor workshops (recently established), where priestly garments, machine-made embroidery and leather articles are made.

Phone/fax: 0233 244 736, 0768 085 709

E-mail: manastireaagapia@clicknet.ro

Tîrpeşti

On the route to Tîrgu Neamţ, to get to Petricani Village, you can take DJ 155 Tîrgu-Neamţ-Topoliţa-Petricani for about 7 km. From the center of Petricani Village turn left to Târpeşti and after about 3 km you will reach “Nicolae Popa” Ethnography Museum, one of the most beautiful and interesting museums of its kind in Moldavia. Nicolae Popa, the founder of the museum, is known as a master craftsman, an exceptional folk art collector, writer, who learnt how to make New Year’s masks since childhood, and later how to carve sandstone and wood, to create faces inspired from fairy tales, with original looks.

At “Nicolae Popa” Ethnography Museum, an entire universe of cultural values and folk traditions that fascinate through their charm and originality is welcoming you! Created in the naive style, the statuettes of stone and wood, exhibited in rooms and yard of the house turned into a museum, animate the atmosphere, making it fun and attractive. The cunning spirit of the man who, for nine decades, has created and animated this oasis of beauty and tradition, floats above everything and everyone.

Address: Nicolae Popa street, no. 305, Târpeşti, Neamţ, 617317

Opening hours: Monday – Sunday 08.00 – 20.00

Get directions: Clik here

Phone: 0758 640 653; 0747 134 040

E-mail: popamuseum@gmail.com , popamuseum@yahoo.com

Tîrgu Neamţ

Should you arrive in Tîrgu Neamţ, don’t miss making a stop at the workshop at the foot of the road leading to Neamţ Fortress, where you will meet Ionela Lungu, a popular craftswoman who, with great talent and dedication, managed to breathe life to a handful of clay taken from Ozana river banks, bringing to life the funny characters in the world of Ion Creangă’s tales. Living nearby the home of famous Romanian writer Ion Creangă and passionate about his stories, she gets her inspiration from his writings, making unique clay figures embodying Aunt Mărioara, Păcală, Nechifor Coțcaru, Ion Roată, Dănilă Prepeleac, etc.

Here you will also find handmade objects made by her husband, Mr. Costin Lungu, a popular craftsman from Neamţ area. Specialized in wood carving, he works sticks, sheepfold rods and clubs, hatchets of elderberry wood and hazel wood, some inlaid, some tin-plated at the end of which are carved various images of men depicting shepherds guarding their flocks of sheep. Alongside these, we discover in his workshop beautiful chests, crafted clad in tin foil in which are inlaid traditional symbols, the sun and the cross.

Workshop location: at the foot of the road leading to Neamţ Fortress

Phone: +4 0233 790093, +4 0742 999 506, +4 0726 985 695

E-mail: palmaart@yahoo.com

Also, in Tîrgu Neamţ, you will discover, by visiting the Museum of History and Ethnography, varied traditional objects specific to the area, organized by functionality, in three distinct chambers:

woodworking, where you can find both the presentation of the technological stages and some distinct crafts which use wood as a raw material, but also a display of several types of objects that are distinguished by the quality and diversity of the motifs that decorate them;

traditional fabrics and clothing, where many unique pieces, representative of what traditional textiles and different fabrics meant, the making of clothes, but especially the creation of traditional clothing can be admired;

other occupations, dedicated to other popular occupations in the area, including agriculture, shepherding, pottery, blacksmithing, household works, etc.

Also, within the museum, there are huge traditional work installations, exhibited in an outdoor pavilion especially designed to host such large-scale objects. The importance of this ethnographic pavilion is even greater as it brings together objects of high ethnographic value which are currently quite rare to be found in their original environment.

Museum of History and Ethnography in Tîrgu Neamţ

Address: Ştefan cel Mare street, no. 37, Tîrgu-Neamţ

Phone: 0233 790 594

Vînători-Neamț

Vasile Neamţu from Nemţişor Village, Vânători Commune, is one of the popular craftsmen who has passionately arranged his own workshop, equipped with the traditional tools needed to create folk art objects. Also, in his home, he exhibited like in a museum, old folk-art objects collected, over time, from Nemţisor Village and representative of the local traditions and crafts.

He makes rustic furniture for gardens and other household accessories. The objects are made of wood, carved and polished using traditional techniques. These include pieces of furniture, garden accessories, tables, chairs, traditional fountains, etc.

Workshop location: Nemtişor Village, Vînători-Neamţ Commune, Neamţ County

Phone: 0755 286 031

In Lunca Village, Vânători-Neamţ Commune, “Vasile Găman” Ethnographic Museum is awaiting its guests. Living a life integrally dedicated to woodwork and collecting objects and tools that remind us of the peasant life in traditional Romanian villages, craftsman Vasile Găman succeeded in transforming his home into a museum-house. An exquisite artisan, he chiselled scrupulously and majestically, tens of crosses and roadside crucifixes, iconostasis and lecterns for over 40 churches in the country, as well as pieces of household furniture such as cupboards, chairs, armchairs, gates, doors and window frames. The quality of craftsmanship is of great artistic value, through the richness of religious and secular symbols used during the execution.

The collection in the museum house was opened to the public in 1988 and includes over 3000 exhibits consisting of old objects and tools, books, manuscripts, icons, folk costumes, masks, medals, coins, etc. The multitude and diversity of the exhibits illustrate Vasile Găman’s passion for preserving and pasiing on the traditions of the people from this blessed land.

Address: Lunca Village, Vînători-Neamţ Commune, Neamţ County

Phone: 0736 324 173

Pipirig

Rodica Ciocârtău from Boboieşti Village, Pipirig Commune, is one of the popular craftswomen who has passionately arranged a workshop equipped with the traditional tools used to create popular art objects. Her handicraft workshop resembles a museum where, alongside tools, old folk art objects collected from all around Pipirig area which are representative of local traditions and crafts are exhibited. With great care and skillfulness, she manages to keep alive the tradition of these crafts and to pass on the values of the Romanian traditional village.

The workshop in Boboieşti produces many folk art objects inspired by the traditions of the area, using old manufacturing techniques that have been inherited from generation to generation. Among the pieces of folk art created here we can mention: little purses made of wool in different colors and sizes, wool rugs and carpets, tapestries used as ornaments in traditional Romanian homes, cotton waist coat which is a part of the national clothing in the area, and many more.

Workshop address: following the road leading from Tîrgu Neamţ to Poiana Largului, once Pipirig Commune reached, turn right. Continue driving for about 4 km to Boboieşti Village where the easiest way to get to Rodica Ciocârtău is to ask the locals.

Phone: 0740 671 831