Museum of Popular Architecture of Gorj

About Museum of Popular Architecture of Gorj

At Curtișoara, a village belonging to the town of Bumbești-Jiu some 10 km north of Târgu Jiu, the Gorj County Museum has gathered a museum village of more than 30 old wooden houses and farmsteads from all over the county: carved porches, river-stone cellars, tall shingle roofs, corn cribs and peasant installations. The buildings were taken down in their home villages and rebuilt here to show how people lived in the Gorj foothills between the 18th and 20th centuries.

The museum began in 1968 with an exhibition in the Cornoiu Kula and was inaugurated in 1975 on the old estate of the Cornoiu family, around the kula and the stone church built by Bălașa Cornoiu in 1821. In 2000–2002 the Tătărescu ensemble was brought here from Poiana, near Rovinari: the kula-house of former prime minister Gheorghe Tătărescu and the family's wooden church. In 2006 a court ruling returned part of the land, kula included, to the heirs of its interwar owner.

The Cornoiu Kula, an 18th-century fortified boyar house on three levels, stands on a terrace above the Jiu valley, with thick walls, cellars with massive oak doors and an arcaded porch on the top floor. It is one of the Oltenian kulas that have been on the UNESCO Tentative List since 1991, though it is not a World Heritage Site.

Information verified on 21 October 2026.

Good to know before you go

Getting there

By car: from Târgu Jiu take the DN67 (Calea București), then the town's eastern bypass northwards and the DJ665 to Curtișoara: ~13 km, ~20 minutes. From Petroșani, drive down the DN66 through the Jiu Gorge: ~52 km, ~1 h 30. From Craiova, take the DN6 and DN66 towards Târgu Jiu: ~120 km, ~2 h 20.

Public transport: the nearest railway stations are Târgu Jiu and Bumbești, the latter ~6 km from the museum, on the line to Petroșani; from there a taxi is the simplest option. No direct bus link to the museum is published.

Where to park

There is no official information about parking; visitors usually stop next to the museum gate, beside the DJ665.

Fees & discounts

Tickets are sold at the entrance or online, on the Gorj County Museum's website. The museum is also part of the Gorj Tourist Pass, the combined ticket for ten museum sections in the county. Prices are not shown on the museum's page; check by phone before travelling.

Rules

The visit follows the paths of an open-air museum: do not touch the objects inside the houses, and smoking and open flames are forbidden, as almost all the buildings are wooden. In wet weather the grass and the timber stairs can be slippery. The Cornoiu Kula is private property and can only be visited when its owners open it.

Facilities

open-air museum · tickets at the entrance and online · included in the Gorj Tourist Pass