Premium
The traditional fair of Romanian potters, Cocosul de Hurez, opens its gates again this weekend to lovers of authentic traditional art in a jubilee edition to be attneded by over 130 craftspeople from Romania and abroad.
The Horezu public administration says that they are prepared for this artistic event that celebrates half a century of existence this year, estimating that 30,000 visitors will visit the two-day fair on the Stejari plateau in Horezu.
"In 2019, when the last onsite edition of the Cocosul de Hurez, the Hurez rooster, took place, there were over 28,000 visitors. After two years of a pandemic, we are now expecting the appetite for outings and outdoor meetings to be higher. We are ready and we are inviting tourists to come in large numbers and enjoy authentic art, traditional music performances and other surprises that we have prepared for this jubilee edition. There are pottery masters from most of the ceramic centres of Romania. We even have representatives from Turkey, Portugal and Bulgaria. In total, more than 130 folk craftsmen have announced their presence, with 52 of them being potters," Director of the Horezu Culture Centre Cristi Iovan said on Friday.
The fair will include a creative competition for the attending potters. This year's jury will be made up of Valcea culture workers who also attended the first edition of the event, which story began in the summer of 1970, when organisers of the folklore festival "Cantecele Oltului" (Songs of the Olt River) introduced a special section dedicated to pottery and offered Horezu pottery national and international visibility.
"The members of this year's jury are among those who laid the foundations of this artistic event and contributed a lot to the promotion of this ancient craft. Among the guests are Gheorghe Deaconu and Elena Stoica, former directors of the County Centre for Conservation and Promotion of Traditional Culture, professor Ioan St. Lazar and professor Florin Epure, the current director of the County Directorate for Culture. This year, however, the grand prize will not be awarded, which will be honorary and, as it should be, dedicated to all participating folk potters and craftsmen who, through what they have created and continue to create, contribute to preserving the authentic traditional culture in the areas they represent ," said Iovan.
The creations to take part in the competition, three per each contestant, will be included in the city's collection of ceramic objects, one of the largest in the country that can be seen in the new exhibition hall, over 1,400 sq.m. to open this autumn in the village of Olari.
The official opening of this year's edition of the Cocosul de Hurez will take place on Saturday, at 11:00hrs, EEST. AGERPRES
