Un sat al satelor româeŝti. Muzeul Civilizaţiei Populare Tradiţionale ASTRA la semicentenar.

The author of the present study realizes a synthetical survey regarding the history of the ASTRA Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation, from its historical beginnings to the present day. Thus, the first anticipations of the ASTRA Museum may be easily traced to the first ethnographical exhibition from 1862 of the Transylvanian Association for Romanian Literature and the Culture of the Romanian People (abbreviated as ASTRA), founded in 1861. After this first exhibition from 1862, organized in Brasov, the following ones, from 1881 and 1902, will be held in Sibiu. Created in 1905 as "The Association's Museum", dissolved in 1950 by the communist regime and reinstated in 1963 as "The Museum of Folk Technique" by Cornel Irimie, the present ASTRA Museum of Traditional Folk Civilisation represents a synopsis for the very existence of Romanian people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]