Târgu Neamț Museum of History and Ethnography

The Museum of History and Ethnography stands at no. 37 Strada Ștefan cel Mare in the centre of Târgu Neamț and belongs to the Neamț National Museum Complex. Its origins lie in the archaeological excavations at Neamț Fortress: a first exhibition was set up in 1940, housed for a short time in what was then School no. 2, and the collection was largely dispersed in 1944 because of the war. In 1957, for the 500th anniversary of Stephen the Great's accession, Professor D. Constantinescu founded both the Neamț Fortress Museum and the „Ștefan cel Mare” District Museum of Târgu Neamț. The latter moved between several buildings until 1976, when it was transferred to its present home, the former Princely School built in 1852. In 1985-1986 the exhibition was reorganised around the traditional crafts of the north-east of the county, and since then the museum has had a history and ethnography profile. The current permanent exhibition, opened in 2012, presents archaeological finds linked to prehistoric salt extraction, Cucuteni culture material, evidence of Dacian and post-Roman settlement, and medieval objects. The ethnography section is devoted to the crafts of the Neamț foothills: woodworking and the processing of natural fibres, farming, shepherding and blacksmithing. An outdoor pavilion displays large traditional installations: a water mill, a water-powered sawmill, a fulling mill for cloth and an oil press. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions, many on local history, such as those on Neamț Monastery in picture postcards, on the archaeological excavations at Văratec Monastery and on the history of the Princely School.