National Museum of the Union Alba Iulia

On 1 December 1918, the Unification Hall Alba Iulia was chosen as the venue for the Great National Assembly because it was the most spacious building in the town.

A few years later, it was extensively embellished on the Coronation, and a vault and monumental portal in the shape of a triumphal arch was added to the entrance.

Under the arch is a Latin inscription commemorating the event from 1 December: ”Anno Domini MDCCCCXVIII kalendis decembriis, hoc loco Unio Transilvaniae universa cum Daco Romania sollenni et unanimo populii voto in perpetuum atque irevocabiliter proclamaata est cuius rei memoria sempiterna sit”. (”In the year of our Lord 1918, on 1 December, in this place was proclaimed forever and irrevocably, by the solemn and unanimous vote of the people, the Union of the whole of Transylvania with Daco-Romania. Eternal be the memory of this act”).

The building was organised as an exhibition area in 1968 for the celebration of the Semicentenary of the Union.

The central hall houses an exhibition dedicated to 1918. The exhibits are of particular value. For example, the desk of the lawyer Aurel Lazăr tells us about the first significant moment that preceded the Union, namely the drafting of the Declaration of self-determination of the Romanians from Transylvania on 12 October 1918. The Declaration was to be read on 18 October by Alexandru Vaida-Voevod in the parliament from Budapest and marked the direction in which the Transylvanian Romanians were to embark in the period to come, the total separation from Hungary and the preparation of the steps to achieve union with Romania.

In the Union Hall are put on display: the Camera of Samoilă Mârza, the Paintings of rulers by Pierre Bellet, the Marble plates representing the Union Resolution.

The National Museum of Unification Alba Iulia houses in its collection several objects about the Union from 1918 which are exhibited only at certain special events, such as Documents of the Union containing credentials and telegrams, Wilson’s Note to the Romanians, Appeal for the formation of National Guards in Transylvania, Photograph of the Romanian National Council, Photographs taken by Samoilă Mârza.

In the current Babilon Building, the National Museum of the Unification Alba Iulia has been operating since 1975. In the more than 100 rooms of the building, the museum presents to the public archaeological exhibits: prehistoric, Dacian from Dacian fortresses of Craiva, Cugir and Căpâlna, Roman from the great urban centre of Apulum, medieval, periodicals, numismatics and a library containing 80, 000 volumes.

Amongst the most important exhibits are a Paleolithic tool from Pianu de Jos, a Neolithic vessel from Acmariu, a Skull with trepanation from Livezile, a Celtic sword decorated with dragons from Aiud, a Dacian princely tomb from Cugir, a Dacian silver hoard from Lupu, Cergău commune, a bas-relief Lupa Capitolina, a Model representing the palace of the governors of the three Dacias, Statuettes of Liber Pater, Hercules Farnese, Nemesis of Apulum, a Medieval monetary hoard from Șeușa, a Seal of Prince Sigismund Báthory, the New Testament of Bălgrad (1648), Horea, Cloșca and Crișan’s rebellion, Avram Iancu’s possessions (1848), Objects from the time of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, First World War.

The Babilon building also has a space for temporary exhibitions.

The National Museum of Unification Alba Iulia has three buildings housing the permanent exhibition and rooms for temporary exhibitions:

– Babilon Building (12, Mihai Viteazul Street)

– Union Hall Alba Iulia (14, Mihai Viteazul Street)

– Museum of religious art Museikon Alba Iulia (3, Unirii Street)

In 1887, at the initiative of Professor Sigismund Reiner, the “Society of History, Archaeology and Natural Sciences of Alba County” was established with the aim of collecting and exhibiting the historical remains of the area in a future museum. Its inauguration took place on 9 November 1888, and the first curator was Adalbert Cserny.

Officially born in 2014 (inaugurated in 2017), at the moment of providing the documentation for obtaining funding from the EEA Grants, the Project “Museikon. A new icon museum revitalises a restored heritage building in Alba Iulia” is the result of joint efforts of the Alba County Council, the National Museum of Unification Alba Iulia, the Orthodox Archbishopric of Alba Iulia and the Museum of the University of Bergen (Norway) to valorise modernly the collections of icons and old books held by the two cultural institutions from Alba Iulia.

The new cultural offer includes a permanent exhibition space (8 halls located on the ground floor and the first floor of the monument), two temporary exhibition spaces (the basement of the old building and the attic of the new building, addorsed in the 80s of the last century) and a trail of archaeological remains, whose interior and exterior route brings to light the two thousand year history of the monument and the Alba Iulia town.

Temporary exhibitions, conferences, painting and restoration workshops are organised periodically, and two periodicals are published: Museikon. A Journal of Religious Art and Culture and Museik-online.

Museikon holds the following: over 5700 icons on wood, icons on glass, icons on canvas, icons on paper, crosses, church vestments, various objects of worship, old Romanian books, old foreign books.