Constantin Negruzzi Museum in Hermeziu

The museum is housed in the manor in the village of Hermeziu, Trifești commune, Iași County. The Trifeștii Vechi estate came as a dowry in 1807, when the writer's father, Dinu Negruț, married Sofia Hermeziu, and the manor dates from the first years of the nineteenth century. The village was called Hermeziu, from 1967 Lunca Prut, and again Hermeziu from 1996. Several members of the family were born or lived in this house: Constantin Negruzzi (1808-1868), author of the novella "Alexandru Lăpușneanu" and a founding member of the Romanian Academy; Leon C. Negruzzi (1840-1890), writer and mayor of Iași, and Iacob Negruzzi (1842-1932), one of the founders of the Junimea society and secretary of the journal "Convorbiri literare"; General Mihai L. Negruzzi (1873-1958); and Ella Negruzzi (1876-1949), the first woman to practise as a trial lawyer in Romania. The manor's guests included Princes Mihail Sturdza and Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Vasile Alecsandri and Mihail Kogălniceanu. Under communism the building housed the local collective farm offices; it was restored in 1993-1995 by the Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași and opened as a museum on 7 October 1995. The museum has four reconstructed rooms, the Music and Theatre Salon, the Dining Room, the Bedroom and the Library-Study, and the hall holds a documentary exhibition of manuscripts, first editions, photographs and family objects. Exhibits include Iacob Negruzzi's flute and the piano played by Leon C. Negruzzi. Costache Negruzzi is buried in the village churchyard. In 1996 the museum was nominated, together with 65 other European museums, for the European Museum of the Year Award (EMYA). The Negruzzi family court is a historic monument, LMI code IS-II-a-B-04193, comprising the Church of Saints Constantine and Helen (1839), the family houses, the park and the writer's tomb. The museum is run by the National Museum of Romanian Literature in Iași and is open to visitors.