On July 10 we continued to a place called Nicolae Popa Museum in Tarpesti, Neamt County, The museum was founded in the ‘70s by the local sculptor Nicolae Popa, in his own house. Before we walked in, we noticed a farmer walking a mama horse and her foal. Having such big animal lovers in our group, we started walking towards them. Im not sure it was a good Idea, since the mama didn't look so happy we are getting too close to her baby, so we backed off, after the rest of the group was yelling at us to not go near them. We had to settle for admiring them from far away.
We entered the museum it was such a beautiful place in a small village, with lots of flowers, green and art everywhere. Statues made out of stone and wood and masks lots of masks. Nicolae Popa, the founder of the museum was intended to create a village museum, which aims at keeping the spirit of an era that was already beginning to disappear. His son and family are running the place, and he was the one to let us in and told us about the museum and his dad's art collection. It is the largest private museum in the country.
One day I shall have a room in my home that looks just like that room. I love this so much!
When Nicolae Popa was a child he learnt to manufacture New Year’ masks, and later on he began to carve sandstone and wood. Neculai Popa made two types of masks: anthropomorphic and zoomorphic. The first category includes masks like: old man, old woman, ugly, devil, lady, New Year, Old Year, doctor, officer, Hebrew, merchant, Gypsy, etc. The second category comprises: bear, goat, ram, goat etc.
After being wounded in the Second World War, imprisoned by the communists for fighting against the regime and left without any personal possessions besides his house, Nicolae Popa decided to stand out for the Romanian values. With hard work and commitment, driven by a strong native inclination for art, he becomes one of the most valued and appreciated naive sculptors in Romania and a true creator of folklore.
And of course my aunt Stella found the cutest little kitten. ( In Eilat the place she lives in, In Israel, she saves all the cats and kitties in the city. And dogs too! A true angel!)
The owner of the place was kind enough to invite my brother and I to his personal home and show us around. Every room was a different style, it was just so beautiful and felt very welcoming.
Nicolae Popa, also a church singer and a passionate collector of genuine folk art and folklore exhibits passed away in 2010 at the age of 91.
