The ethnographic museum has an African mask exhibit until the end of May. Yes, I know that’s only two more days. I missed it. Be warned, the regular ticket price does not include the photo fee. Yes, they charge 5 lei extra for amateur photography. It’s a Romanian thing, the art museum also has a photo charge. That’s why they ask if you are taking photos when you buy tickets.
There was a special event on Africa day, and another on the exhibitions opening. I didn’t see those, so no news on how they went.
Basically, the same part of the museum that had the Marțișor exhibit now has an exhibit on African masks. It’s not just masks, but mostly masks. There is also a video with some PhD students* doing a traditional dance, some armor, one sheild, a few swords, and a lot of beautiful masks, mostly from Western Africa.
The masks are labelled by ethnic group and country. Most of the labels are in Romanian, so Ivory Coast is Coastă Fildeș, but most countries, like Congo, are the same.
While the labels are in Romanian, there is a general explanation in English. Sabie means sword (there were a handful of swords), cap means head, scut means sheild (we saw one shield), mască means mask.
It was interesting, although I was hoping for more farming, fishing, ceramics, cloth making, and similar tools, and full costumes, the kinds of things I am used to seeing at the ethnographic museum. That is why I am calling it a mask exhibit, because I don’t want to disappoint others who are expecting to see the kinds of traditional tools that we might associate with the museum.
But it does fit with temporary exhibits. The marțișor exhibit was mostly about lapel pins, another kind of decoration.
It is only on for a couple more days, and we enjoyed our visit. (We didn’t see any from East Africa, apart from Ethiopia. And we didn’t notice Angola either. I think Congo was the furtherest south. Mali and Ethiopia were the furthest north. I think Ivory Coast was the base of the exhibit, and it expanded from there). It took us about an hour to see the masks, there were a lot, but not like the British museum in London. It’s a nice small museum.
Something there reminded me of the botanical gardens. I don’t remember what, maybe I’ll add it in later. I am pretty sure it was a good thing.
Oh yes, there is a section of the museum of those with limited eyesight. That is part of the permanent museum, unfortunately, I do not think you are allowed to touch the masks. But, if you have someone who reads brail and cannot see regular exhibits, ask the staff and they should point you to the part of the museum (at the end of the tour for most people) that has tactile notes.
There is also a little souvenir shop.
I would say that it is worth going to if you like wooden masks. The masks are beautiful, many are colorful, and they represent a variety of cultures spanning thousands of miles. Maybe one day in the near future there will be an exhibit of the traditional Romanian masks, which are also beautiful to look at.
*) I have no evidence that they are PhD students. They just seem like city men to me. I would guess they are from the Ivory coast or near there, because that is where most of the masks are from.