Oltean, Daniela: Muzee de Etnografie din judeţul Satu Mare (Satu Mare, 2010)

Satu Mare county appears as being an ancient hearth of culture and civilization characterized by originality, regarding both the organization of local social life and the material culture as well as the manifestations of spiritual life and the style of folk art.

In our county one can distinguish 3 ethnographical zones: Ţara Oaşului (Oaşului country) Câmpia Someşană (The plain of Someş) and Zona Codru (Codru zone). These are known not only in the country but also abroad thanking to the skill of the people living here, who knew very well how to keep over the centuries the most valuable thing for them, their material and spiritual creation.

So the aim of an ethnographical exhibition is to give emphasis to this heritage, and to be a conclusive proof of what the people living in these places have created, and to show their way of living, from the beginnings till the "great passing" (death).

Nowadays ethnographical museums symbolize the all-inclusive combination of scientifical research, conservation and exhibition of the universe of folk art. At the same time they represent the represent the place where the value of artefacts is most conclusively expressed by emphasising the features used, both technical and artistic.

The way these features combine and can be found in an object that quite often appears commonplace, it's surprising indeed, proving that the creative and artistic talent of peasants, certainly inborn by divine power, often overtakes any talent formed or obtained in famous schools.

The ethnographical museums from Satu Mare county represents at the same time the ethnocultural identities of national minorities which live in this part of the country, which possesses the attributes of multiculturality. These museums become thus symbols of the communities which they exist in. When organizing the exhibitions we tried to frame the elements specific for rural life in the social, hystorical and cultural context that is characteristic for the zone and the community they represent.