Today I'm going to show you a place that left me with open mouth. I'm going to show you the straw hat museum of Kőripatak (Crişeni). It's not unique as there are other straw hat museums in the world, but it is unique in its own way. I've been hearing about it for a long time and this year I said it's time to pay them a visit.
Kőrispatak, or Crișeni in Romanian is a small village in Harghita county, counting only 673 inhabitants. It was a regular village, with nothing special, compared to other villages, till Lajos Szőcs, a man from Kőripatak decided to open the Straw Hat Museum in 2001.
Lajos Szőcs, a resident of Kőrispatak, whose family was involved in making straw hats, bought and renovated a traditional Kőrispatak farmhouse at his own expense, which currently houses the museum. source
For those of you who are not familiar with the culture, these straw hats were widely used by peasants and not only, on a daily bases, to protect their head from the sun. Straw was easy to get and a straw hat was comfortable and healthy to wear.
How To Get There
The village is close to Bözöd (Bezid), a well known village with a sad history. The old village is now on the bottom of the accumulation lake, being sacrificed in 1988, but that's a different story for a different post.
The owner of the museum bought this 100 year old peasant house, renovated it and set it up as a museum. I can assure you that it was the best idea as it looks authentic. The gate and the fence is also in line with the local tradition.
The good thing about museums I have visited lately is that in most, if not all the places you can find the descriptions in the 3 main languages (Hungarian, Romanian and English), so learning about the place is made easy for everyone.
The courtyard of the museum is full of plates and these are just a part of it. These are the names of the places visitors came from and the distance between the two places.
At the gate, there's a wheel. According to the sign above the wheel, this is the wheel of faith and ha a smart advise to everyone. So you just turn the wheel and see what advice the wheel gives you. But the thing is, most likely there's a weight attached to the wheel as it always stops at this position and no matter how you turn the wheel, you get advice No. 10 or No. 11. Also, some of the sayings in Hungarian don't mat the Romanian translation. There are similar sayings, to have the same wisdom, but it's not exactly the same. Regardless, it's a fun thing, smart too.
There's a nice wooden gazebo in the center of the courtyard. The funny thing is, there are two wooden frames hanging, so you can take some photos of yourself, which are already framed.
This was another interesting thing. Hat throwing is a folk game and most likely it has been played a lot over the years. The main idea is to throw the straw hat in a way to stay on the head of the mannequin. Seem easy, but trust me, it's not.
The place is not just a museum. There's this terrace area, where you can sit down, have a soft drink and a lángos, an enjoy looking at the traditional tools that are used to make straw hats.
We were extremely lucky as we were there at 9am, when the museum opens. The lady told us that 4 busses are to arrive a bit later, from Hungary. Now imagine what I could have dome, I mean how many photos I could have done once that small place was flooded with 150 people? This way I had the whole place to ourselves.
That is a huge wall cover, obviously handmade made. There are photos of people working with straw, making hats or just the raw material for the straw things.
There were these big hats, that are nowhere near the normal size as each one was 3 times bigger. Also, there were interesting saying pinned, all around the place.
According to this source, this is the biggest straw hat in the country, weighs 2.65kg and has a diameter of 2m.
Here you can see a lot of straw hats hanging, of all shapes and design.
The sewing machine hey used to make the hats.
I have a little experience in sewing and was looking at this sewing machine thinking, how on earth I would have done the job back in those days. The truth is, when this machine was used, there was none other. They had no electric sewing machine, so this is the one they learnt using. Would I use one today? Hell no :) But it would be interesting to try making a hat.
This is the braid, the thread made of straw, which is used to make hats.
There was this hat, containing pieces of papers with messages or advice. You paid 1RON and were allowed to draw one.
You may think all the hats are the same, but you're wrong. You'll be amazed how many types and styles they have been able to collect.
This photo tells you a lot, if you know how to read it. Imagine, these ladies, after finishing their daily chores, set down in front of their gate and worked on making those straw threads. That was their me time, but not only. Sometimes (or maybe all the times) they were gossiping and talking to people passing by. That's how information and misinformation was spread as well.
For many, this was a way of earning a living and maybe still is as I see them at craft markets very often.
Don't ask me what's the name of this machine as I have no idea. It's a press that makes the straw flat and it was operated manually.
This activity was not only for women.
This photo worth gold in my opinion.
They have a souvenir shop, which is not big, but it's of interesting things. Those bottles have a nice straw cover, which is common, I see these products at the craft market as well.
From bread baskets, coasters and hats, to Christmas decorations, you can find everything there.
What would you choose from here? A hat? Or a basket?
They have the habit of decorating the Christmas tree with straw ornaments, like bells an angels for example.
They had these tote bags for sale as well, at 5€ each. I was thinking of buying one, but the truth is, I don't really use such bags.
These were quite funny and original too.
Can you guess what this is? I can save you from the trouble. It's a nut cracker, made of wood.
This is the first part of the journey. Stay tuned for the next one, to show you the interior of the museum.
If you're a newbie, you may want to check out these guides:
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