Brukenthal National Museum

The Brukenthal Museum is a special institution because it is the first museum established in Romania and Central Europe, in 1817. It owes its existence to one of the most important personalities in Transylvania: Baron Samuel von Brukenthal, the governor of the province in the second half of the eighteenth century. 
The Brukenthal Palace and the Baron's collections are the core of today's Brukenthal National Museum, its gates opened to the public since its founding by the testament of its founder. 
A visit to the museum is not limited to a single building and to a unique specialization: it becomes a journey presenting multiple aspects of the past and the present, in their metamorphosis. A metamorphosis mirrored into a wide array of objects displayed on 10,000 m2 of exhibitions, of which 5,500 represent new and recently refurbished spaces. 
Initially displaying the European painting collection of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal in a single building, today the museum hosts a great diversity of valuable collections in nine buildings. Five of them are palaces built at different times: the earliest building (with foundation elements from the 13th century) is part of the architectural complex hosting the History Museum, while the latest is from 1901, hosting the Contemporary Art Gallery.