The Village Museum

    A second museum has been opened by those who have been working for the ethnography section in the Baia Mare museum; this is an outdoor one. For making this museum a dream come true, there was a lot of effort involved, especially considering the fact that in those times, such a museum was not at all desired by the country's government. The arguments presented by the specialists and especially the theme of the exhibition, which made this museum the only one of its kind in Europe, convinced the government to give this museum 12 ha of land, on Dealul Florilor, around the little wooden church that was already in this location. It all started with building the roads, installing the plumbing and the electric systems, and after that, the four representative establishments for the four regions of our county have been brought. The great efforts of the well-known restaurateurs Dâmb Gheorghe, Dascalu Elena and Petric Maria, who, together with a team of craftsmen, worked hard in order to bring in the establishments from where they could be found, made it possible for the museum to be inaugurated in 1984. Among the popular architectural monuments that have been purchased and are now in the Baia Mare museum, are as following: the Carpinis house dated in 1758, the Giulesti house dated in1794, the Borsa establishment dated 1795, the Berbesti establishment dated in 1806, the Prislop house from 1811, the gabanase from Chechis dated in 1794 and Fauresti from 1830, the Bozânta Mare house from 1847 and many more, which even though they might not have a date on the crossbar, are just as valuable; these represent a wonderful proof of the anonymous builder-craftsmen.

    The Village museum in Baia Mare presents four ethnographical regions of Northern Romania , known throughout the years as "countries": Chioar, Lapus, Codr and Maramures. Each of these has distinct specific traits, which are very well underlined by the architectural characteristics. In the museum, the establishments are presented according to the occupations of the inhabitants of a particular region. So, there are some agricultural establishments form Lapus Country, a grape grower's one from close to Baia Mare, an orchardist's one from Maramures Country etc. There are also some technical appliances as oloinite, pive, vâltori and water mills.

The Church
	The church was brought from Chechis village in 1939, but it was built in 1630. The last restoration works have been done in 1990 and in 1998, it was sanctified with the titular saint of Sf. Mucenic Gheorghe. This church has a stoop, a pronave, a nave and an altar.
The Lapus Establishment
This is an agricultural establishment, from the ethnographic region of Lapus, dated during the XIXth century, and it was brought in the museum in 1978. It contains the home, the pantry (gabanasul) and the oil press (olonita).
The Costeni Establishment (Lăpuş Country)
	This establishment is dated from the end of the XVIIIth century, proven by the information found in the area. Also, a coin has been found in the foundation of the house, which dates back in 1780.
The Berbesti Establishment (the house of the lady driver - Maramures Country)
This establishment belongs to Maramures Country and it is dated based on the inscription that is found on the crossbar, which attests 1806. The inscription on the crossbar said: "wheat 5 zloti, corn 4 florint, Year 1806. 16 June. Pop Stefan"
The Petrova Establishment (Gheorghe Bilascu house - the area of Maramures Country)
	The Petrova establishment was brought into the museum in 1974. The house, gabanasul and the gate are from the Petrova village, the ethnographic region of Maramures. According to the received information, it is dated for the middle of the XIXth century. The purchasing of this establishment has been very important for the museum. Architectonically speaking, this is a typical construction for that period of time, for the people who were quite wealthy in that area. This house is extremely important for our people also because here, Dr. Gheorghe Bilascu was born, the man who founded the dentistry school in Cluj and so, he started the development of this medical area in Romania .
The Bozânta Mare Establishment (the area of Baia Mare)
This house is dated based on the Cyrillic inscription found on the cross bar. This inscription gives some information regarding the building of the house and the year it was built in (in Cyrillic, but with Roman numbers), dated 1847. "This house has been built in June in 11 days. I wrote this, Tamas Ion in 1847. Tamas Onut, craftsman".
The Preluca Noua Establishment (Chioar Country area)
	This establishment comes from the ethnographic region of Chioar and it is composed of a small home, a barn, a pantry, a byre and a cowshed.
The Prislop Establishment (Chioar Country area)
The establishment is formed by a home, brought from the Prislop village, that has a pantry that comes from Finteusu Mare.
Babesti House
	This house belonged to the Hungarian minority from the field area of Satmar. According to the information gathered after research on the scene, it is dated in the first half of the XIXth century and it is representative for this historic period and for that particular region.