Upon having reached Sibiel, where we would be spending the night at some peasant's home, we visited the Fr. Zosim Oancea Museum of icons painted on glass, which bears the name of the priest to whom it ows it existence.
Located just behind the local cemetery and holding the largest exhibition of icons on glass in Transylvania, it represented for me a one time opportunity to further admire this form of Artistic creation of religious inspiration said to have emerged in the eighteenth century, and which I fortunately had had access to not long ago in Portugal during a rather small exhibition that took place at the Museum of Ethnology in Lisbon.
I was taken by the beauty of the iconic paintings being displayed. The variety of stylistic approaches and themes was immense depending on the areas the icons had been painted at due to the local traditions and folk customs. The intensity of the colours used in some of the icons was quite striking at times.
Although the group soon made its way out of this two-storey house-museum I must confess I could have stayed a lot longer.
It mostly displayed icons from Nicuba, the Mures and Sebes valleys, as well the Fagaras and Brasov districts and it was organised by specific areas and painters.
Although the group soon made its way out of this two-storey house-museum I must confess I could have stayed a lot longer.
It mostly displayed icons from Nicuba, the Mures and Sebes valleys, as well the Fagaras and Brasov districts and it was organised by specific areas and painters.
We then had to be split in two groups, as in accordance with the peasant's home we would be staying at. Christian and I were lodged at Adriana's and our luggage transported in a horse cart, though we would all later gather somewhere else to have a typical meal.
The room was really cosy and our host a very welcoming lady, who made sure we had everything we needed for a good night sleep.
The dinner was second to none though the lady serving at the table was rather disappointed we didn't eat as much as she would have expected us to. The sarmales were really special and by the time we walked back to Adriana's all we could think of was the way this small community had made our evening a rather unique one.
The following day's breakfast at Adriana's was equally special, because apart from the food I found out her family had a long tradition of painting icons on glass, this being the reason why the kitchen-breakfast room was filled with those hanging on the walls.
