„Nicolae Popa” Museum, Târpești

The museum is in Târpești village, Petricani commune, about 12 km from the town of Târgu Neamț. It occupies the founder's homestead and includes a courtyard with statues, the great-grandparents' house from 1867 and the „Casa colecțiilor” (House of Collections), a Moldavian-style pavilion with eight themed rooms. Nicolae Popa (1919-2010) was a folk craftsman, sculptor, naive painter, collector and author of local monographs and folk theatre texts. As a child he learned to make masks for the New Year customs, and later carved in wood and sandstone. He founded the museum in 1964 in his own house, with his own means, and donated about 1,900 folk art and ethnographic objects to other museums in Romania and abroad. His work was shown in several European countries and beyond. The great-grandparents' house displays Nicolae Popa's own work, folk theatre props, his wood and stone sculptures and his study. The rooms of the House of Collections show local archaeological finds, including Cucuteni pottery, naive painting, coins, weapons, furniture, pottery, costumes and accessories, religious art, old photographs, homespun textiles and household tools. The human and animal masks made by Popa hang in the porch and are still used in winter games and customs. It is a private museum of local importance, registered in the Guide of Museums in Romania (cimec) with Nicolae Popa and Elena Rotaru-Popa as owners. The buildings are not listed historic monuments.