Museum of the Vine and Wine in Hârlău

The museum stands at 7 Strada Logofăt Tăutu in the town of Hârlău, in north-western Iași County. The building, known as Casa Tăutu, dates from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century and belonged to a descendant of the chancellor Ioan Tăutu. From 1875 the manor house served as the post office, a role it kept until 1983, hence its other name, "Casa Poștei" (the Post House). It then passed to Hârlău town hall, which set up a history and ethnography museum here, and on 22 May 1990 it became part of the Moldova National Museum Complex in Iași. Consolidation work began in December 1999, and the Museum of the Vine and Wine opened on 20 July 2006. The exhibition has ten rooms on two levels. The first three rooms show the presence of wine at life's three great moments: birth and baptism, marriage, and burial. They are followed by a reconstructed inn, with drink measures, harness and travellers' saddlebags, and a traditional peasant interior from the Hârlău area. The basement holds the equipment of a wine cellar, with barrels, presses, crushers and a tally stick, as well as technical installations for pressing grapes. Crafts linked to winemaking are also shown, cooperage and pottery, including black pottery from Poiana Deleni. Casa Tăutu is a historic monument, LMI code IS-II-m-B-04176. The museum is a branch of the Moldova National Museum Complex in Iași and is open to visitors; group visits are booked directly with the museum.