The Most Interesting Museum I've Seen

Some may think going to a museum is the most boring experience in the world. I' not one of them as I think that's the place where you can learn a lot if you're open minded. Over the years I've been to a few, don't regret it at all and am always looking forward to the next adventure.

Today I'm going to show you a different kind of "museum", where maybe the "museum" itself was more exciting then the exhibited pieces. I mean the exhibition was great, I can't complain, but the place was phenomenal.

Ok, so I'm going to jump right into the middle of it and reveal that the exhibition was held in one of the medieval bastion of Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely), the skinner's bastion, which is not open to the public otherwise.

For those of you who don't know, this bastion was built between 1628 and 1629.

And before I show you the interior, this is the blueprint. It has two levels and I visited both.

This is what you see once you step into the bastion. It's the ground floor, where there were a few pieces on display.

There were some interesting concepts on display. The most interesting for me was the first on the left, where the human is in the cage and the bird is free.

This is how the staircase of the bastion looks like. What I really appreciate here is the wooden stairs. Usually when renovation happens, originality is affected to some extent. I've seen places where instead of wooden stairs they chose metal as it is more resistant. These wooden stairs can be scary if you're afraid of height, but that's not me.

And voila! The second floor of the bastion, now looking like a real art hall. Obviously the bastion wasn't built for exhibition purposes, but it looks good now. The floor is made of wooden logs, which means it's moving when you step on it. This doesn't mean it's dangerous or unstable.

Daciana - Spiritual Journey

The exhibition was called "Spiritual Journey" and features the artworks of Daciana as a tribute to Constantin Brâncuși

Daciana is a self-thaught franco-romanian artist that is inspired by life, her own emotions and spiritualty. Her works are displayed in private collections from USA,France, Belgium, Holland, UK, Malaysia and Romania as well on the walls of Elysee Palace and NASA Houston. source

Constantin Brâncuși (February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian sculptor, painter and photographer who made his career in France. Considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century and a pioneer of modernism, Brâncuși is called the patriarch of modern sculpture. source

I must admit, the artworks were very interesting, but not exactly for my taste.

You have to excuse the quality of the photos as the bastion barely has any natural light.

That is because the bastion has no windows. Scroll back up to the beginning of my post and see if you can spot some windows on the bastion.

There are a few holes, that were used for defense purposes, just like the one you see on the photo above, but these holes are nowhere near to what you need for a room like this size to be light. Artificial lighting needs a lot of work still, but the caretaker told me they are working on it and will be done this year.

If I were to pick one piece I liked, this would be the one, mostly because I love the color combination and the shapes that the painting illustrates.

József Marx Fotoclub

On the first floor there was another exhibition prepared for later and when I stepped in, the tech guy was adjusting the audio. It wasn't open yet, but I was still allowed to visit. Lucky me, right?

József Marx was a well known photographer from Târgu Mureș (Marosvásárhely), who lived between 1914 and 1992.

While I was looking at these photos, I was thinking about if I would be interested in creating such photos and the answer is unfortunately no. This type of still life has never interested me.

I like still life, but not the staged ones.

This is where the exhibition got interesting for me. Portraits and reflections are always interesting.

They say an artwork should speak to you and if you don't hear what is saying, then you don't understand it.

This batch is really speaking to me, especially the first one on the upper left. For me it means a life of hard work, full of memories, but I don't think I can express properly with words what it means. In any case, the photographer had captured it very well.

Wile I respect both artists and appreciate their work, I still say the bastion has more effect on me than the artworks.