The Vâlcea Village Museum developed its profile and themes as a museum village in 1974. It was designed to reconstruct the functional image of a traditional rural settlement, with all its social and cultural institutions on an eight hectare area. The organizers of this open air museum took into account a few basic factors of a true village - the forms of relief of the area, fireplace and its border with all its elements - depending on where the community homesteads and constructions moved from various localities of the Vâlcea county were placed. Currently, the museum is representative due to its four sectors: 1.The Homestead Sector - the dwelling comprises 42 units and over 12,000 ...museum artefacts, illustrating the homestead structure, according to the traditional trades: agriculture, fruit-growing, vinegrowing, animal breeding or a series of folk crafts and techniques; the diversity and planimetric and volumetric evolution of the dwellings with one or more rooms are emphasized. The remarkable exhibits include the houses with pavilion in the Horezu ethnographic area (in the communes of Măldăreşti, Stoeneşti, Bărbăteşti), the homesteads specializing in winegrowing, moved from Drăgăşani (the villages of Prundeni, Olteanca), in fruit growing (the communes of Alunu, Tomşani, Cernişoara) or in animal breeding in the mountainous regions (the villages of Boişoara, Pâscoaia-Brezoi). Next to the dwellings, several adjoining constructions were moved to the homesteads: barns, sheds, haylofts, coops for food storage or for breeding birds and animals. 2. The Social - Cultural Sector of the "public utility monuments" includes a rural primary school from the beginning of the 20th century, from Spiru Haret's time; an inn from the end of the 19th century from the village of Sălişte, the commune of Mălaia; a wooden church, built in 1785 and moved from the commune of Nicolae Bălcescu; a swing from the commune of Stoeneşti, and in the future this sector will be completed with other architectonic sites. 3. The Folk Crafts - Techniques Sector presents the procedures and techniques for processing the raw matter necessary for manufacturing tools, vessels and various household items, the methods used for vegetal or animal fibre processing or the traditional techniques for obtaining animal and vegetal products. Several workshops were moved and reconstructed inside the museum: the pottery from the location of Vlădeşti (the 20th century); the joinery-carpentry workshop (the 20th century) from the village of Şerbăneşti, the commune of Sălătrucel; goat's hair processing workshop (early 20th century) from the village of Curtea, the commune of Popeşti; as well as a smithy from the commune of Prundeni. It is worth mentioning also the installations - the mills driven by hand and the watermills from the ethnographic area of Loviştea, plum-brandy boilers from the localities of Stoeneşti and Buda, the fulling mill from the locality of Costeşti, the drying kiln for plums from the village of Muiereasca de Sus, or several winegrowing installations (presses), organized inside the homesteads of some winegrowers, moved from the localities of Mitrofani, Olteanca, Prundeni, in the area of the Drăgăşani vineyard. 4. The Specialized Constructions Sector - represented by a few items illustrating those in the village border or in the mountainous zone: roadside cross, moved from the localities of Govora-sat and Feteni, border wells, beehives, a sheepfold moved from Smeurat Mountain, a vine manor moved from the commune of Fârtatesti, watch towers, etc. Last but not least, the valuable Vâlcea folk art is displayed in the museum by the interior decoration of the dwellings, inside the workshops, as fabrics or pottery, wooden and metal artefacts, icons and pieces of furniture.
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