We were traveling East, though the mountains of Northern Romania. This (and the occasional cascade of sheep across the highway) was our view:
Normally I’d have micromanaged every stop on our itinerary, but we were in the unusual position of taking a private tour—something I’d sorted out at the last minute so we could visit the famous painted monasteries in the time our schedule allowed. Our guide Florin, a kind man and safe driver, is oddly shy for a professional guide and his tour consisted of driving for a while in silence, and then pulling over to indicate we’d reached a site.
As we entered into the Bucovina region, we noticed houses painted with lovely geometric designs.
Florin stopped the car in front of one of these pretty decorated buildings and announced “The painted egg museum.”
The awkwardly named International Museum of The Decorated Eggs is full of these well-crafted beauties. It’s a place I never would have planned to visit on my own, and yet our stop here increased my already robust admiration of Romanian cultural traditions.
The museum had a work station where you could try out the resist technique used in the egg’s creation. Basically, you dye the eggs a base color and then paint on a wax resist, then over-paint the egg again. Once you’ve added all the colors you want, you remove the wax to reveal the original layer.
Some of the egg designs reminded me of the embroidered clothes we saw in the Maramureș region of Romania.
Ah—a tiny Byzantine style portrait!
HOB and I had friends about to be married back at home, and bought these two painted eggs from the museum for them as a wedding present—rather an appropriate gift, since our friends are what’s known as nesters. Getting these eggs back to Chicago unbroken inside our backpacks was an act of unsung skill and heroism.
How we got to International Museum of The Decorated Eggs: Florin from Casa Muntean drove us.
Where we slept: Hotel Residenz. Price: €31.50 for a double. Recommended: yes.
Picnic at the Cathedral 
Great post 🙂
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Thanks–Happy Spring! 🙂
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Thank you too 🙂
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I’m from Romania but I’ve never been to this museum.
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You’re so lucky to be from the gorgeous country of Romania! Time for you to make a road trip to see the painted eggs.
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Yes, my country is gorgeous, I lived in a beautiful town named Arad, I don’t know if you heard about it. Now I live in Spain.
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Love them, so glad you got them home ok 🙂
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Our friends were happy with them too!
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Maybe one day we will get to visit 🙂
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Happy Easter !! Great day !!
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Happy Easter inkyfire!
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Wonderful!
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Thank you Jean!
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Eggcellent (excuse the pun) Easter post and beautiful eggs. I like that the ones you chose for your friends are patterned like wedding outfits.
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I’m bEGGing you for more puns, Profusion of Eccentricities!
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it’s the unexpected, unplanned things that so often are the highlights.
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So true, and good advice for me to lay off the micromanaging a bit!
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Absoltely MUST!
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I think you would also love the homemade food in Romania, Rotwein Wanderer.
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love to try!!!!
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Wonderful pictures! But, the painted egg is not uniquely Romanian. My mother’s parents were Ukrainian and Ukraine is very famous for their painted Easter eggs. My mother used to do them (but not NEARLY as colorful and incredibly artistic…) for Easter when I was a child. I remember her melting the bees wax and using a pin head to put the melted wax on the egg. One of my very few memories of her really, but a cherished one! Thanks for the great report. Sometimes the best things on a trip are unplanned and unexpected!
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Thank you AGMA. I remember reading a touching post about how you lost your mom at a young age. I’m glad you have the smell of bees wax and the memory of painted eggs to remember her by. We were actually quite close to Ukraine for much of our trip and I’m sure the cultural traditions overlap.
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You were saving these photos for today! Clever. Did you know that the largest such Easter egg in the world is in Canada, in Vegreville Alberta? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegreville_egg
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I try to be clever sometimes, but mostly these days I’m just trying to keep my skirt from being tucked into my tights after I leave a public restroom.
I’d like to see the basket that holds that giant egg in Vegreville!
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So beautiful! I would have loved to have seen that in person! Beats my lame egg-dyeing skills, haha. 🙂
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I watched that wonderful video you posted about the egg painting lady. The reason she’s so good at it is she’s been doing it since she was a teenager. I’m happy to hear they have a new generation carrying on the tradition.
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I once lived in the area you are visiting, northern Romania. Just this year I actually painted eggs (decorated eggs really) Romanian style. I can share my photo if you like?! Enjoy your time in Maramures!
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I’d love to see your photo, thanks!
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They look lovely, and are definitely the kind of things which would make great presents. Aren’t these eggs boiled before being painted? If yes, that would make them a little easier to carry.
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The artist pokes a hole in the egg and blows out the white/yolk so it’s really light (and easy to smash!)
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