Muzeul Etnografic al Transilvaniei și regii României

Abstract

The author presents several archive documents regarding the relations between the Transylvanian Museum of Ethnography and the Kings of Romania, providing useful information for knowing the Museum’s history. The first document presented is Decision 7487 of December 21, 1922, signed by Prince Carol; this Decision, by appointing Professor Romulus Vuia as the institution’s director, recognizes all the achievements of the Commission that Professor Vuia had established in the spring of 1922 for the purchase of A. Orosz Collection, in order to set up an ethnographic museum in Cluj. The article presents the List of objects to be collected for the Ethnographic Museum; in this list the first attempt was made to specify the notion of ethnographic object and to establish the field of ethnography as an independent science. In the next part of the paper, there are some documents showing the contribution of the Royal Foundation and of the Ministry of Arts and Religious Affairs to supporting Professor Vuia in the creation and development of ethnographic museography by establishing modern systems of evidence, conservation and valorization of the museum heritage. At the end of the article, the author presents several documents regarding the two visits of King Carol II to the Museum, the first visit in 1930, with the Queen Mother, and the second in 1937, when the Museum was inaugurated in the City Park building; the author also presents two photos taken during the visit of King Michael and Queen Anne at the Museum in 2008.