From 23 January 2026
THEMATIC EXHIBITION AT SUȚU PALACE
Modern Romanian Ceramics from the Collection of the “Dr. Nicolae Minovici” Museum
The exhibition brings together numerous ceramic pieces produced in four modern pottery workshops in Romania that operated during the first decades of the 20th century: the Royal Crown Estates, Troița, Gheorghe Niculescu, and the Tompa Brothers. Jugs, plates, platters, candlesticks, and flasks made of ceramic and preserved in the collections of the “Dr. Nicolae Minovici” Museum will be on display. Alongside the presentation of these cultural objects—varied in morphology and decoration—the exhibition aims to recover the history of these workshops and factories, their modes of operation, and the role they played in the modernization of ceramic production techniques.
Seeking to respond to the new tastes and demands of an urban clientele rediscovering folk art amid the vibrant cultural atmosphere of the period, these workshops combined multiple sources of inspiration drawn from local traditions, creating distinctive pieces with a modernized decorative vocabulary. Contributing to the creation of applied arts with a specifically Romanian character—a major objective of the era—artisans employed elements of traditional ornamentation, as well as formulas associated with Art 1900, alongside their own innovations. At the same time, the forms of the objects remained closely linked to their functionality.
The works created by the artists and craftsmen active at the Royal Crown Estates workshops in Cocioc–Periș, at Troița (hosted by the Rüffer Factory in 1921), and at Gheorghe Niculescu’s workshop in the capital, as well as at the Tompa Brothers factory in Turda, were exhibited and awarded both in Romania and abroad, within exhibitions intended to showcase national artistic and industrial progress. Increased production led, in some cases, to the establishment of multiple domestic and international distribution outlets and, consequently, to the growth of the Romanian economy.
Curators:
Dr. Silvia Iordache, Head of the Urban Anthropology Department
Dr. Mădălina Manolache, PhD Candidate Ionuț Banu, Museum Curators
Nicolae Minovici Museum, MMB