The Csángó Ethnographical Museum in Zabola (Zăbala)
The first collections of the Csángó Ethnographical Museum were born under the initiative of Ferenc Pozsony, at present a university professor at the Department of Hungarian Ethnography and Anthropology of Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, who has been collecting ethnographic material starting with the first part of the 1970s. In 1974 the continuously growing collection was placed into a peasant house built at the beginning of the 20th century. In its first decade of existence the collection was extended by 17th-19th century glazed tiles, painted furniture and objects of everyday use. In the 1980s Transylvanian Saxon and Moldavian Csángó material was added, featuring costumes, textiles and tools. After the system change from 1989 the professional registration, management and description of the collection was carried out by the ethnography students of Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, within summer fieldwork practice. In the country house visitors can become familiar with the monuments of Zăbala, with different historical illustrations, traditional costumes, glazed tiles and an interwar local “clean room”. Near the Székely country house, in a barn-like building the permanent exhibion called The Traditional Folk Art of the Moldavian Csángós was opened on September 14. 2003, within a festive event.
In the hall of the new building a collection of photographs and maps introduces the settlement structures of the Moldavian Hungarian villages and their traditional architecture. On the first floor, visitors can see the workshop, living room, and earthenware products of a potter’s family from Gorzafalva (Oituz), the bedroom of an old woman from Pusztina (Pustiana), and the so called “clean room” (representational living room) of a house from Lészped (Lespezi), met by renowned folklorist Zoltán Kallós during his stay in the 1950s. The second-floor Gallery presents the “courses of life” of Csángó-Hungarians of Moldavia, their religious lives from birth to death, their folk religion, printed and hand-written books of prayer and books of songs in the Hungarian language, and their festive costumes and traditional textiles.
The longterm functioning of this new institution, the management of its immovables and collections, the proceedings regarding accreditation are assured by Pro Museum Association (Zăbala), officially registered in 2004. As the representative of the Ministry of Culture exposed already at the opening ceremony that the institution should be included in the national museal system as quickly as possible, the Association signed a contract with the Székely National Museum (Sfântu Gheorghe), according to which the Csángó Ethnographical Museum functions as an external Department of the prestigious institution.
In 2005-2006 we managed to register, to describe and take photographs of most of the older collections. At the same time we started the processing of the Museum's manuscripts, photographs and library. Also the Csángó Archive was placed into the documentary centre of the institution, an archive that was created at the Kriza János Ethnographical Society in Cluj-Napoca. This includes the most important manuscripts or published documents, photographs, documentaries, audio and visual materials related to the Moldavian Csángós, as well as the materials of the present researches on the Csángós. Our library in continuously growing due to donations and book change.
Our institution in Zăbala hosts special museology practice programmes for the ethnography students from Babeş-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, supervised by professional staff, and also the annual conference of young ethnographers. The Museum - attracting a considerable number of visitors - organizes different lectures, events on the traditional culture, society and history of the Hungarians of Moldavia.
The Csángó Ethnographical Museum
Pro Museum Association (Zabola)
527195 Zăbala, str.Gării nr.789. Romania
Telefon / fax: 0040-267-375-566
E-mail: csangomuzeum@gmail.com
http://www.csangomuzeum.ro/
2010.01.222009.09.19
