IASI PALACE OF CULTURE:A Web Formatted Multimedia Encyclopaedia on CD Support

Coralia Costas. "Moldova" National Museum Complex, Romania

I first heard about Museum and The Web sometime in 1998, at the time when the Internet was still quite a nebulous at least in Romania. This is because at that moment it was not really understood and appreciated as an informational and communicational means connecting people of allover the world.

The web page http://www.home.~palatis.mail.dntis.ro was created in 1998 thanks to the efforts of the person who was then the head of the Public Relations Department of the Palace of Culture in Iasi. What I have noticed, though, is that most of the personnel of other departments of the institution did not appreciate its existence – especially that it was expensive to have one and it had been arranged for free for us – most probably for not quite understanding the advantages of a web page. It was only about two years later that such interest became visible. Since then, the web page was several times updated so to be in line with the reality of the exhibitions. A new updating has become recently compulsory as the present aspect is quite static. Moreover, right now this page is not available for being under reconstruction and it will be hosted by a different Internet provider.

Lately the owners of a local searching engine contacted us asking for information to be included on their site under the category “Spare Time” subcategory “Museums and Galleries”. Similarly, finding by chance on Internet a Romanian interesting e-publication dealing with cultural matters, I have pointed out to the person in charge that there was no such field as museum or gallery on their site, though they wanted it to be quite comprehensive. They agreed with this and asked me to provide them with the necessary material, which I did and now I can only hope that it will be soon available online. All these stories are meant to point out how important is, in my view, that people find out about the Palace of Culture, even basic information, by navigating on the net for something sometimes completely different.

I am now of the opinion that every great project of the Palace of Culture should be described or at least advertised on the web. Moreover, I have encouraged the specialists of the Faculty of History, which is the partner institution in the project for the presentation of the Cucuteni site museum and the construction of replicas of archaeological living structures, in creating a web description of the project and linking it to the web sites of both the “Al.I.Cuza” University of Iasi and the Palace of Culture, the fund raising possibilities being thus doubled.

The web page of the Palace of Culture could also have a link to an independent site at present available on CD-ROM support. In its present format, the CD is the result of a long-term project which apart from professionalism required dedication, patience, diplomacy. 

First all museum exhibits were shot using a professional digital camera. Then, the computer specialists started preparing the structure of the CD, keeping in mind a web-oriented format, meaning that at any moment all files can be included in an independent web site without any other effort but choosing the name of the domain, and registering it. Then, specialized assistance was requested from the museum professionals with the aim of providing textual information and advising on the images to include and, respectively, to exclude from the presentation. It was a huge and very difficult task as many photos had to be taken again as the initial ones were not satisfactory from the point of view of the perspective, luminosity, etc. In the meantime, texts were translated and inserted in the respective files.

My main role, as a PR Officer, did not consist in only assuring the translation of these texts but in getting two completely opposite kinds of specialists - engineers, with a very modernistic approach, and museum staff, with a rather conservative perspective – understand each other and cooperate for the sake of the final result. It was not easy, as one might think, because there were several things to take into account: the reality of the exhibits, the technical facilities and limits, as well, and last but not least, professional habits of each specialist, while the CD was supposed to have a unitary aspect. Therefore, I concentrated my efforts in obtaining from the personnel of each museum presented on the CD similarly structured information, including more or less the same types of data (date, provenience, short description) and then edit it so to look homogenous.

In spite of such difficulties, I now can be proud that the Palace of Culture has a modern means of presentation which enables a virtual tour to the four museums hosted in the building. The most important characteristic of the information included on the CD is that it almost fully covers the reality of the exhibition rooms, in a panorama of Romanian life and civilization.

Created using the web technology and software, the CD even uses its terminology. Thus in order to go to the opening page, one has to click the index file which will always connect not only to the  graphically stylized image of the Palace and to the enumeration of its museums but also to the sound of the melody played every sharp hour by the carillon installed in the clock-tower of the building. The song is a famous one, renowned for the feelings of unity and joy it produces with the occasion of national historical events. It was first sung when Moldavia and Wallachia, two of the regions of Romania, were united in 1859 and then it was generalized as a national union song. Buttons like back, next, up, home, links are also common to the 21^st century user from Internet navigation.

By clicking on the Art Museum, several subchapters open and they correspond to the reality of the exhibition: Romanian Art, Spanish and Italian Art, Flemish and Dutch Art, French Art, Other National Schools. Down the page, there are the buttons Home and Links, while on the sides one can find Museum Info and About Scarlat Varnav, both with interesting information about the foundation of the museum and the first donator. As for the thematic arrangement in national schools, the virtual visitor can have a tour of the Romanian Art, divided in its turn in five parts, chronologically ascending. The Spanish and Italian Art is illustrated on two pages, while only one page is reserved to the Flemish and Dutch Art. Two pages are then destined to the French Art, while two others illustrate Other National Schools. Each page includes images of the works of art, with the mention of the title and author. Among the most valuable paintings, mention should be made of those signed by Rubens, Murillo, Caravaggio, and, respectively, Grigorescu, Bancila, Tonitza, etc.

The Ethnographic Museum of Moldavia is presented in five sections, following the thematic order of the exhibition: Peasant Occupations, Home Tissues or Textiles, Traditional Costumes, Interior Objects and Winter Masks. The main page of the Ethnographic Museum also has a link to Museum Info, which provides textual data as for when and how was the museum formed. Under Peasant Occupations, the following categories are included: Agriculture (with 3 pages with photos and an introductory text), Animal Breeding (again 3 pages with photos and an introductory text) – with very interesting items such as the herb and whey boiled hemp shirt so to become impermeable and chase away insects, or the moulds for decorating salted and smoked cheese, Fishing and Hunting (with 2 pages with photos and general textual information), Bee Keeping (with 1 page with photos and some generic information) and Peasant Installations, subdivided into Installations for Wine-Making (1 page of text and photos) and Installations for Oil-Making (2 pages of photos and generic text), the Ruginoasa Press being a absolutely remarkable article, due to both its dimensions and functioning system. Home Tissues includes seven successive pages, with some textual information and photos, pertaining to carpets (5 pages) and other peasant textiles – table sheets, shelf sheets, etc. (2 pages). Traditional Costumes includes a homonymous subdivision, which illustrates and explains (in 3 pages of text and photos) the peasants’ style of dressing, and four other subdivisions, Decorative Patterns I-IV, meant to point out the multitude of ornamental motives, be them geometric or floral or animal. Patterns such as the tree of life – in the case of the Romanians the fir tree -, the bird – actually symbol of both life and death, as agent assuring the communication between the living and the dead -, the endless column or spiral – suggesting the continuity of the human life, through the species, in spite of the limits of a life time -, the crab, the comb, the cross, the sun – sometimes represented as a rhomb (due to the limitations imposed by the loom, whenever the decoration is woven not sewn or embroidered, as the loom does not allow to create a perfect circle but only rhomboids) . It is important to point out that the above decorative patterns are present everywhere in the rural universe, because in this case the utilitarian and the aesthetic are always combined. These motives are easily remarked on carpets, clothes, wooden items of daily use (cupboards, walking sticks, beds, spoons, forks, etc.), festive cheese (and food in general), etc. The Interior Objects section displays a succession of five pages with text and photos of peasant interiors and individual objects of such interiors. Finally, the Winter Masks chapter is made of three pages of text and photos of masks specific to the traditional plays of the winter period. The most important types are the old man and the old woman, the bear, the goat, the horse, the ostrich, etc.

The History Museum is structured in five subchapters: Prehistory, Ancient History, Mediaeval History, Modern History and Contemporary History. The Museum Info provides a textual general description of the sections of the museum. The Prehistory chapter, symbolized by a vase of the wonderful Cucuteni culture famous for its white, red and black decorated ceramics, includes three pages of photos of the exhibits and their explanatory descriptions, dated to the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic. The Ancient History includes textual information and photos pertaining to the Iron Age (1200 B.C.-106 A.D.) covering five pages, followed by four others illustrating the East-Carpathian Territory during the 4^th – 7^th Centuries A. D., with cult objects, tools and jewels, made of metal (bronze), ceramics and bone. The Mediaeval History section opens with three pages of text and photos dedicated to the Dridu Culture (8^th – 10^th centuries A.D.) and continues with Raducaneni Culture (11^th – 13^th centuries A.D.) illustrated in only one page, but showing in the end a photo of a very important jewel hoard exhibited in the museum. Then, there follow sections such as Objects of the 11^th – 15^th Centuries with three pages of photos and text pertaining to very varied articles from a coat of arms and stirrups to Byzantine ceramic ware, Objects of the 15^th Century with five pages of photos of the exhibits and explanatory descriptions – among which mention should be made of the maquettes of important fortresses of the period, Neamt and Suceava, together with decorative ceramic disks applied on the façades of the churches, decorative stove tiles, guns – from swords to cannon balls, fighting flags, etc., Objects of the 15^th – 16^th Centuries, with one page of photos and explanatory descriptions, showing mainly military accessories and coins of the period, Objects of the 17^th – 18^th Centuries, with six pages of photos of the exhibits and explanatory descriptions, with interesting items such as water pipes and pavement bricks, and, finally, a special subdivision dedicated to the Religious Objects of the 17^th –18^th Centuries with two pages of photos. The Modern History includes the presentation of the 19^th Century Objects throughout 10 pages of photos, explanatory description and textual information, while 4 other similar pages refer to the 20^th Century Objects. This chapter mainly displays various types of gun, war medals and decorations, statuettes, objects which belonged to the personalities of the 19^th century and first decades of the 20^th century, that is personalities of important events such as the 1821 and 1848 Revolutions, the 1859 Union of Moldavia and Wallachia, the Independence War of 1877-1878, World War I. The Contemporary History Section refers to the Between World War period and World War II, thematically grouped in 7 pages of text and photos with explanatory description of Objects of the 20^th Century, followed by 1 page of photos of Medals of the 20^th Century, 2 pages of photos of Medals and Coins of the 20^th Century, 3 pages of photos of Decorations of the 20^th Century, 1 page of photos and explanatory description of Decorations and Objects of the 20^th Century and 13 pages of photos of Documents and Photo Albums. These pages are of invaluable importance to collectors interested in the period.

The presentation of the “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum is structured thematically in Musical Instruments, Mineral Collection, Communication Devices, Energetics Equipment, Computer Collection. The opening page of the “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum also includes Museum Info and About Stefan Procopiu, the academician from Iasi whose name was given to the museum as a sign of respect and honour of all his activity. The Musical Instruments form a collection unique in the whole Romania for the multitude of items and for their variety as well. Thus, the chapter is structured in Musical Automata with Pin Reel, presenting various types of carillons (tuned bells), Barbarie’s organs, cembalos and orchestrions, Musical Automata with Perforated Disks, including items such as ariston, symphonion, polyphone, with horizontal or vertical perforated disks made of cardboard or metal, Musical Automata with Perforated Tapes, with main items such as the mechanical piano, the piano driven by an electric pianola, the electric orchestrion with several instruments and perforated tape, Recording and Playback of Acoustic Vibrations, with phonographs, gramophones, etc.. What is most interesting about these subchapters is that in each of them, almost every exhibit also has an audio files accompanying the image and explanatory description. A textual presentation is available at the beginning of each subchapter providing information as for the origin of the device, its evolution, etc. “Constantin Gruescu” Mineral Collection bears the name of the collector and donor of the minerals. Thus, the presentation is structured according to the classes of rocks in: Sulfide Group, with 3 pages of photos and explanatory description, the main rocks being pyrite, marcasite, blende, Oxide Group, with 6 pages of photos and explanatory description, the main rocks being quartz and amethyst, Carbonate-Fluorite Group with 4 pages of images and explanatory description and a main type: the calcite, and finally the Sulfate Group and Others, with 2 pages of images and explanatory description and main items such as ludwigite, barite., gypsum. There follow the subchapter reserved to Communication Devices and it includes Telegraphy, with one page of photos with explanatory description, Telephones, covering two pages of photos with explanatory descriptions and Radio, with three pages of photos of radioreceivers with their explanatory descriptions. The “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum also has a room reserved to exhibits of the field of television Unfortunately it was under reorganization during the photographic shooting and the preparation of the CD. The Energetic Equipment is in its turn devised into Electric Engines with direct current, Power Engines with combustion, and Life Application, including here the energy produced by steam, sun, wind, water, etc. with one page of photos with explanatory description for each subdivision. Finally, the Computer Collection is structured in two sections: Convex Computer with 2 pages of photos, and pdp11 Computer, with 1 page of photos and a link to a technical presentation of the device.

On the opening page of the CD there is another button entitled Other Collections and which sends to the Clock presentation with 5 pages including a short description and history of the carillon installed in the central tower of the Palace of Culture and photos – general views and details as well of the mechanism, “Scanteia” Exhibition, with 9 pages of photos and explanatory description and a short presentation of the Cucuteni civilization at the beginning, Princes’ Hall, with 5 pages with the photos of all princes of the present Romanian territory, from ancient times to present, with the mention of the princes’ names and reigning periods, and Religious and Cult Objects, with two pages of photos of the icons owned by the Art Museum.

The cover of the CD also provides additional information as for the Regional Restoration-Conservation Laboratory hosted in the Palace of Culture, and for the other museums administered by “Moldova” National Museum Complex: Mihail Kogalniceanu Memorial Museum, The Union Museum, Poni-Cernatescu Memorial Museum, “Al. I. Cuza” Memorial Museum of Ruginoasa, The History Museum of Harlau and the archaeological sites of Cucuteni and Cotnari.