Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis awarded the Astra National Museum Complex in Sibiu, in central Romania, with the Order of Cultural Merit in the rank of Knight - Category E-National Cultural Heritage, for outstanding achievements in the local and international cultural landscape.

Ciprian Ştefan, the museum’s manager, received the decoration from deputy prime minister Raluca Turcan on Saturday, June 20, according to Agerpres. The awarding ceremony was organized at the open-air museum in Sibiu.

Raluca Turcan said that the museum had become a “national brand.”

“The Astra Museum is emblematic for Sibiu, it is emblematic for Romania, it is emblematic for the soul of anyone proud to be Romanian […], because, as I said, the Astra Museum is already a national brand,” Turcan said.

“So, today this distinction goes to the team of the Astra Museum led by Mr. Ciprian Ştefan, an institution subordinated to the County Council led by Mrs. Daniela Cîmpean, and is a sign of appreciation for the entire team of historians, ethnographers, curators, people who have built every inch and every symbol of this beautiful institution,” the deputy prime minister also said.

The Astra open-air museum was established in 1963 and currently covers 96 hectares (with the permanent exhibition spreading on almost half of the total area – 42 hectares). It features more than 400 monuments of folk architecture and technique, as well as an impressive collection of ethnographic heritage objects. Visitors can see old mills, wooden churches, and traditional houses, among many other things, and attend one or more of the many events organized here, such as traditional fairs, folk festivals, or workshops.

In 2019, the Astra National Museum Complex in Sibiu received the Luigi Micheletti Award, which recognizes innovative museums in the world of contemporary history, industry and science.

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(Photo source: Facebook/Raluca Turcan)