From December 2026
Oltenia. Between Memory and Truth
Thematic Exhibition at Suțu Palace
The exhibition proposes a journey between history and imagination, inviting the public to rediscover a region with a strong identity, often simplified through clichés and myths. Drawing on the heritage of the Bucharest Pinacotheque, the project brings together works of art—including graphic works presented to the public for the first time—documentary images, and informational panels that bring to light lesser-known stories about Oltenia, while also highlighting the cultural diversity that contributed to the formation and definition of Oltenian culture. Visitors will also have the opportunity to discover remarkable traditional costumes and ceramic objects specific to this area, essential landmarks of its material heritage.
Sculptures, landscapes, portraits, illustrations, and human typologies, created both by renowned Romanian artists and by foreign artists traveling through this region, reveal a rich and diverse territory, ranging from landscapes hidden among forests and mountains to genre scenes and historical figures. Together, these representations outline a space of living memory, situated at the boundary between historical reality and symbolic construction.
An important focus of the exhibition is the effort to show how history and certain emblematic local figures have, over time, been transformed into myths and used as ideological instruments. The exhibition proposes a critical reading of these images, inviting visitors to distinguish between historical truth and the collective imagination.
More than a perspective on past and present, the project is an invitation to knowledge and dialogue, offering the public the opportunity to rediscover Oltenia as an essential part of Romania’s cultural and identity diversity.
Curators:
Dr. Vlad Vieru, museum curator
PhD candidate Ana Maria Măciucă-Pufu, museum curator