After 12 evocative landmarks, covering thousands of years of history from Prehistoric times to yesterday’s achievements, the fall season of our online series "The History of Romania in One Object", developed in partnership with Moldavia's History Museum in Iași and The National Museum of Transylvanian History in Cluj-Napoca, comes to a temporary conclusion. The exploration of Romanian history through some of its most powerfully symbolical objects resumes in January 2021 with

Photo 1: Colonel Cerchez's campaign trunk The Romanian principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia), located at the mouth of the Danube, united in 1859 forming a new state called "Romania" under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. After the unification the next goal of the young state was to gain its independence, which was accomplished at the end of the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878. One of the heroes of this momentous event was Colonel Cerchez who defeated the feared and famo

Photo 1: Prince Alexandru Ioan Cuza wearing his foreign decorations, official portrait by Carol Popp de Szathmari In the 18th century, the Romanian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, located at the mouth of the Danube River, laid under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire. After the Kuciuk-Kainargi Peace Treaty of 1774, Russia added its own protectorate on the two countries, which from then on would find themselves under a double patronage. Consequently, given this sit

Photo 1: The Great Medal of the Coronation of Ferdinand I and Marie of Romania, 1922 The greatest event in our history is, without a doubt, the unification of all the Romanian historical provinces, concluded in Alba Iulia on December the 1st, 1918. Made possible by the victory of the Entente (the alliance between the Russian Empire, the French Third Republic and Great Britain), which Romania (comprised at that time only of Wallachia and Moldavia) joined in 1916 after two year

Photo 1: Gold ornaments discovered in a female aristocratic tomb, Florești 5th century A.D. The Romans abandoned the Province of Dacia towards the end of the 3rd century A.D and during the following seven centuries Transylvania became part of various political formations ruled by peoples of different origins, primarily Germanic but also of other Eastern provenances. Photo 2: Map of the migration of Huns and the displacement of populations The appearance of the Huns by the Vol

Photo 1: The Wild Boar in Luncani (Late Iron Age) This amazing figurine represents a wild boar cast in solid bronze (produced in the á cire perdue technique). The silhouette of the animal is supple, and some of the anatomical elements are very carefully transposed (snout, teeth, ears, hooves). The orbits are deep, probably the eyes having been originally rendered from colored glass paste. Decorated with circles and triangles, the mane (crest) of the wild boar is oversized com

Photo 1: The Roman Amphora discovered on the Prut River, before and after restauration Many important archaeological discoveries are made serendipitously. This is precisely what happened on the hot and dry summer of 2015 when draught lowered the level of the Prut River (Eastern Romania, on the border with the Republic of Moldova). On a seemingly ordinary day it was luck and the astuteness of a Border Police that led to the discovery of a Roman amphora on the bottom of a meand

Photo 1: Dr. Ioan Rațiu's Desk Set The 19th century is known as “the century of nations” because it was then that nationalism became the dominant ideology. This shift culminated in the liberal revolutions of 1848 which swept Europe in an effort to establish and secure freedom, national identity, and independent political life within the framework of the nation-state. Photo 2: The 1948 European wave of revolution (Italy) Photo 3: Map of Transylvania. Author Gerard Mercator, A

Photo 1: Prince Stephen Bocskai’s Cup, detail, The National Museum of Transylvanian History (MNIT) On August 29, 1526, at the Battle of Mohács, the forces of the Ottoman Empire, led by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, annihilated the Hungarian army. This major defeat was followed in 1541 by the fall of the city of Buda, which led to the division of Hungary into three parts. The Western part was placed under the rule of the Habsburg Empire, the Eastern part became an Ottoman p

Photo 1: Fragment of a statue of Emperor Caracalla discovered during the archaeological works in the large fort of Porolissum (Moigrad, Sălaj County) Photo 2: Representations of Dacians on Trajan's Column The conquest of the Dacian Kingdom (today’s territory of Romania) by the armies of the Roman Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD) at the beginning of the second century AD meant the creation, after more than half a century, of a new and particular Roman province on the Lower Danube. T

Photo 1: Mihai Kogălniceanu's Masonic apron During most of the 19th century – also known as "the century of nations" - the Romanian Principalities Moldavia and Walachia, located at the mouth of the Danube river, endeavored to shake off the tutelage of the Ottoman Empire, their suzerain power, and get in step with the modern European civilization by adopting social, institutional and cultural models, as well as values, ​​of Western Europe. Photo 2: Mihail Kogălniceanu, portrai

Photo 1: The Sword of Prince Ipsilanti Where the Danube meets the Black Sea, there existed for centuries two countries named Moldavia and Wallachia or, collectively, the Romanian Principalities. In 1859 they united, and a new state was born, "Romania". Moldavia and Wallachia were located on the border of three empires: The Ottoman Empire, The Austrian Empire and The Russian Empire. This special position on the Eastern European map was a place where many political interests in

Today’s story takes us back to the prehistoric times, more precisely to the Copper Age when on what is today Romania (southeastern Transylvania and Moldavia), the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine (up to the Dnieper River), evolved the Cucuteni-Trypillia civilization, one of the most brilliant civilizations of prehistoric Europe. The name comes from the discoveries made in 1884 and 1893 in the localities of Cucuteni (near Iași, Romania) and Trypillia (near Kiev, Ukraine). In on

The 12-episode first season of THE HISTORY OF ROMANIA IN ONE OBJECT, our online series that evokes decisive epochs in the Romanian past starting from objects with powerful symbolic and representative value, developed in partnership with The National History Museum of Romania, has come to a temporary conclusion. As we are now working to extend this highly successful program in partnership with other important museums in different regions of the country, we invite you to revisi

The first season of the History of Romania in One Object concludes with the epoch-making event of our integration into the European Union, the most consequential, transformative political arrangement Romania has ever been part of. The symbolical object that illustrates this crucial historical turn, which has impacted all facets of Romanian life, is the Romania and Bulgaria Together in the EU stamp issue, which is part of the National History Museum of Romania collection. Almo

Photo 1: Image from the Revolution in Bucharest This object, the tricolor flag with a hole in the middle, which was flown by the revolutionaries of 1989, is an object loaded with memories and emotions. Photo 2: Nicolae and Elena Ceaușescu in 1989 1989 began as the year of complete desperation and ended as a time of great expectations. It was the year when Ceaușescu’s cult of personality, the glorification “of the Comrade and his wife”, had reached epic levels, when the two da

Photo 1: Nicolae Ceauşescu receives a scepter to mark his election by the Romanian Communist Party as President of Romania (1974). The scepter is handed out by the Chairman of the Great National Assembly, Ştefan Voitec. From the Romanian Communism Online Photo Collection Nicolae Ceaușescu became General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party having succeeded Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej, its first leader after the establishment of the communist dictatorship in 1947. The first y

Photo 1: "Nicolae Ceaușescu and Scenes from the History of the People". Offered to Ceaușescu by Natalia and Nicolae Gadonschi-Ţepeş on the occasion of his 54th birthday (January 1972) Photo 2: Nicolae Ceaușescu takes the oath as President of the Socialist Republic of Romania (1974) Nicolae Ceauşescu (1918-1989), for decades the absolute leader of communist Romania, enjoyed a cult of personality of an unparalleled dimension, at least in Europe. The mass adulation surrounding

The Moon is Earth’s only natural satellite and our nearest celestial body. Known from prehistoric times, it is the second brightest object in the sky after he Sun. The beauty of the Moon became a source of fascination, inspired curiosity and gave birth to a plethora of cultural traditions. The first Moon landing (July 20, 1969) made a great impression on Romanians. The public television acknowledged the importance of this historical moment and broadcast live the Apollo 11 mis

Petru Groza's desk telephone is an artifact closely linked to a moment with dramatic consequences in the history of Romania after the Second World War: the establishment of the communist regime. The phone was used by the first communist leader of Romania, Petru Groza, between 1952 and 1958 when he was President of the Grand National Assembly which, according to the Constitution, was "the supreme body of state power of the Romanian People's Republic." This phone was the "witne