Maramureș County Museum of History and Archaeology

Address: 1-3 Monetăriei Street, Baia Mare 430406, Maramureş county, Romania

Phone: +40 262 211924

Email: maramuresmuzeu@gmail.com

Website: www.muzeubaiamare.ro

The idea of establishing a museum in Baia Mare originated in the late 19th century, when there were already quite consistent collections of “old objects”, capitalised on by the first historical exhibition. On 31 August 1899, thanks to the efforts of the historian Schӧnherr Gyula, the Baia Mare Museum Association was established, whose intensive activities led to the opening of the Baia Mare City Museum to the public on 19 June 1904.

From the very beginning, the museum replenished its collections mainly through donations, especially in the field of books, archaeological finds, coins, medals, ancient weapons, etc. Thus, in 1901, the museum’s collection consisted of 2,441 items, in 1904 – 6,938 items, so that during the First World War the number of exhibits reached 11,489 items.

In the interwar period, the Baia Mare Museum reorganised its collections, and the first exhibition was opened in 1924.

In 1951, the Baia Mare Museum became a local history museum, and in 1968-2006 it operated under the name “Maramures County Museum” with five departments: history and archeology, art, ethnography and folk art, natural history, and technical history.

 Today, the Maramures County Museum of History and Archaeology is a public cultural institution subordinated to the Maramures County Council, which provides the financial resources necessary to achieve the goals derived from the museum’s core functions.

In addition to the Mint, which was built in the 18th century, the museum also houses an important historical monument that was part of the fortification system of the medieval city of Baia Mare, the Bastion of the Butchers. It was returned to the local community and re-entered the tourist route in 2011 thanks to the project “Restoration and Revitalisation of the Butchers’ Bastion in Baia Mare, Maramures”, implemented by the Maramures County Council.

The museum heritage, consisting of various categories of cultural property, some of which are of local, regional and even national significance, is displayed in the vast expanse of the city’s former Mint and the Butchers’ Bastion.

According to statistics, it has 75,509 inventory numbers, of which the archaeological heritage comprises 35,745 artefacts, and the History section includes 24,128 items structured in collections of medieval archaeology, monetary treasures, workshop tools, knives and specimens, prints and photographs, documents, mining equipment, and memorial heritage. These are complemented by 9278 volumes (16th-20th centuries) of the book and documentary collection, and the current book collection, which includes 10322 volumes (specialised publications, yearbooks, etc.).

The archaeological heritage comes from systematic and preventive archaeological research, surface investigations, as well as from accidental discoveries that trace the lines of human evolution over a long period of time. Some of the artefacts discovered are on display in the permanent exhibition “Bronze Age Treasures from Northern Transylvania”.

Another important segment includes monetary treasures, stone-cutting products, guild insignia and products, patterns and seals, white and firearms, stamps and documents, all of which make it possible to reconstruct the dynamics of the evolution of the free royal city of Baia Mare.

Mining has long been the economic backbone of the Baia Mare area, a museum heritage that allows us to reconstruct its evolution, with around 1500 exhibits. Tools, ore transport, underground lighting, documents and photographs can be found in the mining history collection, many of which are unique. These are complemented by components that were kept on site from Romania’s first refinery, which operated in this space from 1926 to 1967, including the Treasury, the place where gold and silver bars were stored before they went into NBR’s safes. All of this can be seen in the permanent exhibition Mining and Civilisation in Maramures, which is unique in the Romanian exhibition landscape.

A particular attraction for the public is the collection of clocks (around 300 pieces), with several exceptional pieces that give the permanent exhibition Journey Through the Universe of Clocks a special cultural and scientific value. From enormous tower clocks to small table and pocket clocks, from a wall pendulum from the French Revolution (1789) to a clock checker, they all arouse the curiosity of the audience, fascinated by the lavish decor typical of the Rococo style, some wall or pedestal clocks, as well as floral motifs and enamels painted with great talent by old masters.

This exceptional heritage is also an important mediator of museum education, an institution that runs successful programmes and projects at this level of activity: “Living Museum, Generation of Historians Teaching Society, Velenii Shomcutii Experimental Archaeology Camp, 4 Your Culture – 4 Medieval Monuments in the City Where I Live and Study, Museum Without Barriers – Access to Museum Culture for People with Disabilities, and Great Civilisations of Antiquity.

Scientific research on heritage is implemented through studies and articles published in the publications of the Maramureş County Museum of History and Archaeology, respectively, in the Marmatia Yearbook and the Bibliotheca Marmatia series, Museum Collections, Maramureş Studies and Research, Living Museum.