A large international exhibition dedicated to Romanian folk masks will be open between 7 December 2025 and 12 April 2026 at the Vsetin Castle, the Czech Republic, under the title "The Mystery of the Folk Mask. A cultural bridge with Moravian Wallachia across the centuries,", a release of the Tarii Crisurilor Museum in Oradea informed on Friday.
The event marks a milestone in cultural cooperation between Romania and the Czech Republic, the museum's release mentioned.
Organised by the The Museum of the Moravian Wallachia Region, the exhibition also gatheres the contributions from four Romanian institutions: the Tarii Crisurilor Museum in Oradea - Museum Complex, the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania (Cluj-Napoca), the Maramures Museum (Sighetu Marmatiei) and the Maramures County Museum of Ethnography and Folk Art (Baia Mare).
Visitors will discover an impressive collection of masks from Romania and the Czech Republic, handcrafted from natural materials such as wood, fur, leather, straw and textiles, alongside contemporary creations and visual reinterpretations made by students from Tomas Bata University in Zlin. The exhibition will also feature carols, video recordings of masked processions, stories about traditional characters, and audiovisual installations connecting tradition with contemporary aesthetics.
The exhibition explores the profound symbolism of the traditional Romanian mask, an object that goes beyond a decorative role to become a tool for ritual communication.
"In the Romanian folk culture, the traditional mask is not merely a decorative accessory but a tool for symbolic communication and a means of social and spiritual realignment. The characters it represents - whether the Goat, the Devils, the Old Men and Old Women, or the Sacrificed Bull - operate in complementary registers: they provoke ritual chaos, satirise social reality and bring protection, fertility and purification," the Tara Crisurilor Museum release said.
In the traditions of Transylvania and Moravian Wallachia, the mask serves as a mediator between worlds, a vehicle for social satire, purification and protection.
"Transylvania and Moravian Wallachia share a similar cultural memory, shaped by mountain life and a deep respect for nature's cycles. Through this initiative, the four Romanian museums and the Czech museum bring to light a shared cultural heritage. The exhibition in Vsetin thus becomes a cultural bridge between two European regions united by symbols, rituals and similar sensibilities. The event confirms the importance of transnational cultural dialogue and reaffirms the place of Romanian traditions within the European artistic and ethnographic landscape."
The exhibition is held under the high patronage of Romania's Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Antoaneta Barta and with the support of the Romanian Cultural Institute in Prague."
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