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The National Museum of Art of Romania, the Art Collections Museum, the Theodor Pallady Museum and the K. H. Zambaccian Museum can be visited from Wednesday to Sunday, between 10:00 and 18:00.

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The National Museum of Art of Romania is the country’s prime holder of Romanian, European and Oriental art. Located in the former Royal Palace in Bucharest, it includes the National Gallery (Romanian medieval and modern art) and the European Art Gallery. Apart from numerous temporary exhibitions, visitors can also join guided tours of the former Throne Hall and other spaces of historical relevance.

The Art Collections Museum, the K.H. Zambaccian Museum and the Theodor Pallady Museum are equally part of the National Museum of Art of Romania.

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Reopening of The European Decorative Art Gallery, 15th of January 2024

With an area of over 400 square meters, the European Decorative Art Gallery, composed of six rooms, illustrates four centuries of history of taste and refinement, innovations, manufactures and European craftsmen from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain, Russia from the 16th-19th centuries and completes the museum's permanent exhibition, alongside the European Art Gallery and the National Gallery.

Included in the exhibition is a wonderful marriage box made in Dresden in 1586, ceramics from the famous faience factories of Delft (Netherlands), Manises (Spain), Montelupo Fiorentino and Savona (Italy), Rouen, Moustiers and Sèvres (France), Meissen (Germany), Provençal furniture and French tapestries, as well as special silver pieces alongside the famous Bohemian crystal glasses. The craftsmanship of Russian craftsmen can be admired in the delicate cloisonné silver pieces, the niello silver glasses or the Punch Bowl made by the famous Fabergé workshop. Also, a precious collection of watches illustrates the excellence of jewelers and watchmakers from the most important workshops in Europe.

The presence of these objects in Romania attests to the fact that our country has always been in a European circuit of exchanges of cultural values.

Europe was not only the space for the manifestation of secular practices in the artistic field, but also a place where the creative input from other continents merged into defining expressions of the exceptionality of the human spirit. These varied cultural influences have, over time, contributed to the definition of a European identity that is also reflected in the gallery display.

The opening of the European Decorative Art Gallery is due to a passionate and involved team from the National Art Museum of Romania, made up of museographers, conservators, restorers and technicians, but also to an important contribution of sponsors and partners without whom this far-reaching project would not be possible. would have been possible: Association "Friends of MNAR", Raiffeisen BANK, Camelia Șucu, Coca-Cola Romania, Romcar, Banca Comercială Română, Tomini Trading, TNT Romania, Solmar Trading Group, Soft Medica, Romtelecom, Unilever, Veronica Savanciuc, ITH Management Office, CitiBank Romania, Leadership Development Romania, Banca Națională a României, Topo Capital Corporation.

The spaces that house this gallery have gone through an extensive redevelopment process, being heavily affected by the earthquake in 1986 and the fire in 1989. The opening required the creation of showcases in accordance with the latest standards in the field, ensuring both security and high standard display.

The European Decorative Art Gallery benefits, for the first time, from a digital component, the MyMNAR application, to be used during the visit in the gallery to complement the exhibition course in an interactive way.

Access to the European Decorative Art Gallery is through entrance A2, floor 3, Calea Victoriei 49-53, Bucharest, Wednesday - Friday, 10:00 - 18:00 and Saturday- Sunday, 11:00 - 19:00.

The Gallery of Oriental Art

Located on the third floor of the National Museum of Art of Romania central building on Calea Victoriei, alongside the European Decorative Arts Gallery, the Oriental Art Gallery shows nearly 600 art objects from Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, China, Dagestan, Egypt, Greece, India, Iran, Japan, Syria, Turkey, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The pieces are selected from the most significant and valuable collection of Oriental and Far Eastern art in the country, managed by NMAR.

The creation of this new permanent exhibition, unique in Romania, is the result of a collaborative effort involving museum curators, conservators, restorers, technicians and management as well as several partners, sponsors, and donors who supported the project over time: the "Friends of NMAR" Association, JTI, BRD Groupe Societe Generale, Camelia Șucu, Raiffeisen BANK, Coca-Cola Romania, Romcar, Banca Comercială Română, Tomini Trading, TNT Romania, Solmar Trading Group, Soft Medica, Romtelecom, Unilever, Veronica Savanciuc, ITH Management Office, CitiBank Romania, Leadership Development Romania, National Bank of Romania, Topo Capital Corporation, Domeniile Sâmburești and AQUA Carpatica.

Read more: The Gallery of Oriental Art

Celebrating The Met: Highlights from the Gift of The Metropolitan Museum of Art to the Muzeul Textilelor

25 September 2026 – 31 January 2027

This exhibition is presented as part of the project “Muzeul Textilelor – Everything Is Connected”

The exhibition presents a selection of garments and textile objects from the gift made by The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met), New York, to the Muzeul Textilelor in Băița, Hunedoara County.

The connection between the two institutions is also rooted in a professional relationship built over several decades. Dr Florica Zaharia, founder of Muzeul Textilelor and Conservator Emerita at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, spent twenty-eight years in The Met’s Department of Textile Conservation, which she headed for thirteen years. His experience in researching and preserving textile heritage contributes to the perspective from which the pieces on display in the exhibition are viewed and connected.

The selection on view at the National Museum of Art of Romania brings together objects originating from different geographical and cultural contexts, highlighting both, the distinctive features of individual traditions and the connections between materials, techniques, forms and the ways in which textiles are used.

Romanian textile heritage occupies an important place within this perspective and is presented in dialogue with objects from other cultures. Their juxtaposition reveals similarities and differences that extend beyond geographical boundaries: the ways in which local resources influence the choice of materials, how techniques are adapted and transmitted, and how function, aesthetic expression and cultural identity converge within a textile object.

The exhibition thus invites us to consider textiles not only as heritage objects, but also as bearers of knowledge. Fibers, structures, techniques, colors and ornaments speak of the communities that created them, their relationship with the environment and the resources available to them, and of the practices transmitted across generations.

As part of the project “Muzeul Textilelor – Everything Is Connected”, the exhibition foregrounds the place of Romanian textile heritage within an international context, as well as the role of research in understanding and preserving it. The gift from The MET to Muzeul Textilelor thus becomes the starting point for a dialogue between collections, cultures and textile traditions, as well as for reflection on the ways in which heritage continues to create connections in the present.

Venue:
National Museum of Art of Romania
3rd Floor, Gallery of Oriental Art – Central Hall

Visiting hours:
Wednesday–Friday: 10:00–18:00
Saturday–Sunday: 11:00–19:00

Museography and research: Dr Florica Zaharia

Curator: Teodor Frolu

Organisers: Muzeul Textilelor, National Museum of Art of Romania, DC Communication

Project co-funded by the Administration of the National Cultural Fund (AFCN).

Brâncuși. The Syndrome Exhibition

Good news! The exhibition “Brâncuși. The Syndrome” has been extended until 14 March 2027!

“Brâncuși. The Syndrome” marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of sculptor Constantin Brâncuși and offers visitors a distinctive perspective on the influence of his work. It examines the various forms of artistic discourse that have developed around the works and personality of the most important modern sculptor, from the interwar period to the present day. Two narrative strands, intertwined over the past century, can be understood as a veritable Brâncuși syndrome, which became endemic in Romanian culture. On the one hand, the exhibition reveals the formative dominant force exerted by Brâncuși’s personality and work on modern and contemporary Romanian art. On the other, it explores how Brâncuși’s mythical image took shape and spread throughout Romania’s visual culture, becoming a national, cultural and spiritual symbol.

The exhibition brings together works that trace both the artist’s image and the formal, symbolic and critical echoes of his artistic legacy. Among the works on display are portraits of Brâncuși by M.H. Maxy, Theodor Pallady and Milița Petrașcu; tributes created by M.H. Maxy and Vasile Dobrian; sculptures by Milița Petrașcu, Irina Codreanu, Hans Mattis-Teutsch, Ion Irimescu, George Apostu, Ovidiu Maitec and Vasile Gorduz; as well as contemporary interpretations and reappropriations of Brâncușian motifs. These range from Paul Neagu’s studies after “Bird in Space”, “The Fish”, “Mademoiselle Pogany”, “The Maiastra Bird” and “The Endless Column”, to works by Iosif Kiraly, Teodor Graur, Mircea Cantor, Vlad Nancă, Michele Bressan and Dan Perjovschi.

As Brâncuși achieved, particularly after 1970,  global recognition as the “father of Romanian sculpture”, his presence became increasingly overwhelming. His name grew in prominence not only in the cultural sphere but also spread uncontrollably throughout public space. Miniature versions of the Endless Column, Table of Silence and Gate of the Kiss began appearing in all kinds of settings, stripping these key landmarks of their artistic legacy and meaning and triggering an invasion of kitsch. This phenomenon extended to the use of his best-known forms as decorations on an endless variety of products, from notebook or book covers to cigarette packets.

Starting with the 1990s, the phenomenon of Brâncușimania—unaffected and even intensified by the change of political regime—was documented, analysed and brought into question by artists such as Iosif Kiraly, Teodor Graur, Dan Perjovschi and Mircea Cantor. Curated by Judit Balint and Erwin Kessler, the exhibition “Brâncuși. The Syndrome” examines and juxtaposes these diverse discourses, both artistic and beyond the realm of art, that developed around Brâncuși’s name and work. It offers a complex picture of his influence on Romania’s social and cultural landscape and collective imagination.

The exhibition will be open to visitors from 12 June 2026 to 14 March 2027 at the National Museum of Art of Romania (MNAR) on the ground floor of the National Gallery.

Official Partner: Banca Transilvania

Exhibition organised with the support of The Friends of MNAR Association and the Romanian Cultural Institute.

Institutional Partners: Galați Museum of Visual Arts; “George Apostu” Cultural Centre, Bacău; “Vasile Pârvan” Museum, Bârlad; National Bank Museum; Constanța Art Museum; Mureș County Museum; National Museum of Contemporary Art (MNAC); and the National History Museum of Romania.