Museikon — Attraction in Alba Iulia

Pretty little icon museum, elegantly laid out in a beautifully restored building (the surrounding government and medical buildings on the access road look quite shabby - you can't help thinking "am I in the right place"? - but could serve as a reminder of the transition Romania has made in recent decades).

For a recent project financed by the EEA countries, indications in English are too scarce, and the place feels "provincial". I think everything should be in Romanian and English.

For a country with a communist past, opening a "purely secular" icon museum looks a bit strange in 2025. You cannot honestly present the styles and techniques without explaining some of the theology behind icons. Why were figurative representations (except the slaughtered Paschal Lamb) prohibited for 6 centuries? Why were they then allowed? Why did Christianity had periods of iconoclasm where many icons and statues were destroyed? Why is the distinction between veneration and adoration (Council of Nicaea II) so important theologically? Why was western Christianity quicker to adopt carved (3-dimensional) images? Maybe you could work with some good theologians from different Christian denominations and help the visitor understand what a religious icon is... going beyond it's museological reduction to a simple anthropological artefact or work of art. You might actually help the visitor discover some...

I personally enjoyed my time in this museum. I have visited a lot of museums abroad and finally I am happy to see a good curated and well arranged museum in Romania. I appreciated the striking combination between old and new, upper floors had modern art displays, the same as the basement. I also appreciated the color mix and the icons displayed on different color backgrounds, also very nice to have them categorized from regions of Romania and include a bit of history next to each. This is a fantastic museum and hopefully I can see more museums like this in Romania. Only thing to improve is to add debit or credit card payment, would be annoying not to be able to get in because you don't have cash. Another aspect that cannot be changed is the entrance path to the museum through a public medical...

Top level curation and stunning museum pieces, this is one of the best church related museums I've seen in Europe, in Romania it is on equal footing with the Metropolitan Museum in Iasi

For 2 euros you get to explore amazing church art going back to the 16th century, you get to understand the story behind it all and even get a lesson in what it means to restore old icons and books

You can take as many pictures as you want, this is one of those places that's so good I had to snap a picture of everything. For deep exploration it takes about two hours, it's not heavy on the text and it has everything...