Colecţia de etnografie a Muzeului Naţional al Carpaţilor Răsăriteni, Sfântu Gheorghe. Note despre subcolecţia de lemn etnografic/ The ethnography collection of the National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians, Sfântu Gheorghe. Notes on the ethnographic wood subcollection

Abstract

Ethnographic Wood is a category of cultural goods that is part of the Ethnographic Collection of the National Museum of the Eastern Carpathians and that deserves an analysis, even in broad outline, in the first instance, in order to identify the needs for research, conservation, enhancement and increase the number of museum objects classified in the category that we have called the Ethnographic Wood Subcollection. We are talking about one of the most important categories of ethnographic cultural goods, bearing perhaps the most important historical testimonies to the archaic way of life, carried out centuries ago around the traditional house, touching on aspects related to housing, agricultural implements, household tools for the textile industry, furniture, household annexes and others, all falling within the broad sphere of household concerns, with a purely practical but also artistic purpose. For centuries, wood was the basis of archaic civilisation and a mainstay of rural life. From houses and outbuildings to toys and footwear, everything was built or carved from this material, often from ancient forests. Ethnographic Wood accounts for almost half of the entire ethnographic collection of the museum and comes mainly from Covasna, Harghita and Mureş Counties. Most of the cultural goods included here also have an important artistic component, worthy of note and study. We have also briefly followed some aspects related to the evidence, provenance, research, enhancement and digitization of the Ethnographic Wood Subcollection.