Brukenthal Museum, Sibiu

Housed in the former home of the Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803) , the Brukenthal Museum is the first Romanian museum, and is also the oldest museum in Central and Eastern Europe. There is a separate admission charge to view each of the galleries. We visited the Romanian Art Gallery and were fascinated by the various styles of art created by Romanian Artists. We also visited the Pharmacy Museum, just across the plaza, which is also part of the Bruckenthall Museum.

The Brukenthal Museum, in its present structure has the following branches:
The Brukenthal Palace with The Art Gallery and The Library
The Museum of Natural History cu The Museum of the History of Pharmaceutics and The Museum of Arms and Hunting Trophies
The History Museum
The most interesting, in my opinion, it is The Art Gallery which has its origins in the art collection set up by the baron Samuel von Brukenthal ever since the 60's of the XVIIIth century. In 1790 the collection is inaugurated inside his residence from Sibiu, where it still is.
Opening Hours:
in summer:
daily 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Monday closed
in winter:
daily 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., Monday closed

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Muzeul National Brukenthal is Romania's leading art gallery outside Bucharest. It was founded in 1817 in the baroque palace that was the home of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal (1721-1803), the Austrian chancellor of Transylvania, whose private collection forms the nucleus of what is exhibited today. There is an emphasis on 17th and 18th century paintings, especially by Eastern and Central European artists. There is also some beautiful furniture and portraits of the Brukenthal family.

The first floor is fairly conventional, but the second floor has some superb paintings stunningly displayed in dark rooms, with only the paintings illuminated, including Pieter Breughel's outstanding "Massacre of the Peasants" depicting invading Spanish soldiers riding in the snow, about to kill the inhabitants of a Flemish village.

Opening hours: 10am-5pm, Tues-Sun
Admission 12 lei

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Brukental Museum is the oldest museum in Romania. Its opening happened on February 25th 1817. It is also the second oldest museum in Europe. The name comes from the former governor of Transsylvania - Samuel von Brukenthal, and the first collections were his personal donation. Also, the building of the museum was his personal residence. In the classical art gallery you can find items by Antonello da Messina, Lorenzo Lotto, Alessandro Magnasco, Albrecht Dürer, Rubens, Botticeli, Jan van Dyck and Titian. I would recommend a visit to the Brukental Museum for the art lovers and for the fact that it is the oldest museum in Romania and the second oldest in Europe.

The Brukenthal Museum is housed in what used to be the Brukenthal Palace, home to Samuel von Brukenthal, the governor of Transylvania from 1777-1787.

The collection, said to be the finest art collection in Transylvania, features Romanian art as well as Western European art exhibited in furnished rooms throughout the Palace, with the original canvas and silk walls, ceramic stoves and 18th century Transylvanian furniture.

The Brukenthal Palace was built by Samuel Brukenthal, governor of Transylvania, in baroque style between 1777 and 1787.
He gathered here a vast collection of paintings, antiques, coins, and rare books.
Palace hosts the Brukenthal Museum which includes the Art Gallery and the Exhibition of Ethnography and Folk Arts.
The Art Gallery was open for the public in 1817, seven years earlier than the National Gallery in London, with 1090 paintings from the collection of the Samuel Brukenthal, governor of Transylvania.
Today the Art Gallery, which is one of the richest in Europe, contains a number of 450 paintings belongings to the Flemish and Dutch schools, about 500 paintings representing the German and Austrian schools, and 200 Italian paintings in different styles starting with Renaissance.
The Romanian collection contains 1500 pieces, mostly signed by academic painters whose names are part of the national heritage.
The entire collection reaches the imposing number of 10,000 pieces.
Brukenthal's own collection, displayed on the second floor, comprises European paintings from the 15C - 18C. It is particularly strong in Dutch and Flemish paintings and scenes by Caravaggisti. Among many beguiling canvases are:
'Mary Magdalena reading her Bible in Prison' by Caracciolo (1578 - 1635)
'Winter Scenery' by Denis Van Alsloat
'Venus, Bachus and Ceres' by Abraham Janssen
'The Mocking of Christ' by Ludovico Carracci
'St. Catherine' by Francesco Fusini
'Rivaldo and Armini' by Stefano Torelli