Historical treasure in danger in the Danube Valley: “There is also an important collection of Roman gems and cameos”

A possible treasure hidden in a village on the Danube valley has fallen prey to the helplessness of the local administration. A museum that has in its inventory about 10,000 pieces, some of them rare, is locked, while some of the exhibits are in great danger of decay. The disappearance of certain objects is also suspected, and the police have been notified.

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the Orlea Museum, the new building, photo, Olt Culture Directorate (11) JPG

The village museum from the town of Orlea, located on the banks of the Danube, in Olt county, is almost 75 years old. The teacher Constantin Cumpănașu is recognized as the founder of this museum, in 1952, being the one who donated the first objects of particular importance for the history of the place. Today, no one knows how many there were at the beginning, it is certain that along the way they kept adding, the inventory currently being almost 10,000.

The museum in Orlea has an impressive collection of objects PHOTO: Olt Culture Directorate

There is no museographer in Orlea, and during the last inventory there were suspicions that some of the objects might have disappeared, which is why the Olt County Culture Directorate notified the Police. The case was also recently reported to the Olt Prefecture, in the meeting of the Prefectural College, the director of the County Department of Culture requesting support to determine the local authority to implement the measures ordered following the controls.

“It has an impressive collection of pieces, starting from the ancient period”

The museum was established in 1952 and totals “an impressive collection of pieces, starting from the ancient period”, according to senior councilor Laurențiu Comănescu, from the Olt County Department of Culture, who has carried out, in recent years, several controls in Orlea. There are pieces of archeology and numismatics from various historical periods, but also pieces of art and pieces of natural history, in total about 10,000 pieces.

“The main problem, which we raised including in our reports to the Prefectural College, is that there is not, I think since 2007, a person employed and specialized at that museum. The result is that last year, when I did the last check including those from IPJ Olt on the line of cultural heritage protection, an increasingly pronounced degradation of this museum was found. And physically, and newer at the inventory level,” Comănescu explained.

The objects were moved to the new building PHOTO: Olt Culture Directorate

Having recently come into possession of the inventory made in September 2025, the representative of the Culture Directorate says that he found “something missing”. “But – there is also a but – all the checked pieces were not identified. Some of them would exist as a number, but they are not identified according to the data entered in the inventory register. That inventory register is quite thick and it is the old inventory-register, from the '50s. Since then, absolutely nothing has been done. I stayed with them even after 1989 in the same inventory. Possibly they were additions or additions to the museum collection, by no means removals from the list or various other mentions”added Comănescu.

The representative of the county institution says that he will order a reverification of these pieces, “in the context in which there are also some shortages”.

The problem is that for this inventory you need professionals specialized in fields, because there are pieces of archaeology, numismatics, fine art and even many zoological exhibits.

“The main aspect is related to the specialist staff to be employed there, someone to answer. Because currently the person who is in charge and has taken over the management is the cultural home referent, who is also a pensioner”Comănescu also said.

For decades the museum operated in a building that, over time, began to deteriorate. More than ten years ago, through a European project, the town hall managed to renovate another building, located in the vicinity of the one that housed the museum's pieces, and upon its completion, most of the exhibits were transferred there.

The renovated building, however, also has problems now, Comănescu pointed out, looking unkempt, far from the image of a museum institution.

As for the objects left in the former museum, they are subject to a real danger of degradation, because water infiltrates through the roof.

“There is also an important collection of Roman gems and cameos”

Representatives of the Orlea City Hall, a representative of the Corabia Museum and another representative of the museum section from Ianca participated in the inventory made last fall. What is missing? Hard to say for now, but there are serious suspicions.

“At this moment I am basing myself on what happened in this verbal process. From what I discussed with one of the members of the commission, there was also an important collection of paintings from the Roman period, which would no longer be part of them. Roman coins, medieval coins, we also have some art objects that are missing. But, I repeat, it is not mandatory that they all be included in the cultural heritage”Comănescu also specified.

To be included in the categories of the cultural fund, the pieces must be expertized and the experts must be paid. And someone has no money. The problem of classifying the objects is, moreover, one at the county level, Comănescu explained, only the County Museum has a part of the classified pieces and a few other pieces expertized at the museums of Corabia and Caracal.

There could be another explanation for the missing pieces, those who made the last inventory specifying that the pieces would exist in number, but some are not identifiable according to the entries in the register.

The institution with a control role has, in recent years, carried out several checks, each time leaving as a compliance measure the hiring of specialized personnel who understand the importance of the objects under care. Extremely diverse objects are collected at the village museum in Orlea: petrified fossils, quartz, limestone, sea shell, volcanic glass, a turtle, a flamingo bird, a bat and even mammoth bones and masses.

“I repeat, I don't know to what extent they all belong to the cultural heritage”, Comănescu also said, confirming that over the years some pieces have attracted the attention of specialists.

There are still abandoned objects in the old building PHOTO: Olt Culture Directorate

“From the discussions I had with other colleagues in the country, some of them showed interest. There is also an important collection of Roman gems and cameos, not very many in number, but there. The southern area of ​​Olt county is extremely rich in ancient vestiges, the Roman and Byzantine periods, and that explains their origin including from the perimeter of the territory of the Orlea commune”said the representative of the county institution.

If the legislation were applied to blood, the museum would have to be closed, say the representatives of the institution under the Ministry of Culture, but no one wants such a solution.

“Even closing it would not be a solution, because nothing would be solved in terms of the parts. Worse would degrade. Because then no one will really be interested. We put a lock, we put a seal and that's it. And in 5 years, 10 years, that's where we'll find ourselves”Comănescu also specified.

“Where can we find a museographer in Orlea?”

Hiring a museographer at the “Constantin Cumpănașu” Village Museum in Orlea was not a priority in the last two years, admits the mayor of the commune, Viorel Oiță, because he was always under the threat of job cuts. But in previous years it would have been tried, without success.

“We'll try, we'll try again, we'll try again. Now I see that they removed the positions of museographers, dormitory director and libraries from the organizational chart, as if that's what it says in the new ordinance. Let's hope we can get a job on the museum side as well. But we come to the same problem, we come to a specialist, to a man who has made history and to come and stay. Let's see, let's hope that we will be able to hire”, a said the mayor, for “Adevărul”.

The dormitory director who used to lock and unlock the museum will also leave soon, so they are completely exposed.

“But where can we find a museographer in Orlea or in the area, with specialized studies? And I don't even know, to say that there is anyone who has finished history on this side. I really don't know. But we'll see, we'll try,” the mayor continued.

On the other hand, visitors' interest in this museum would not be particularly high. Children from the local school come, students from neighboring schools also come and, from time to time, students who participate in the archaeological excavations, in the summer, at the Sucidava citadel.

“To be honest, the interest of the population is quite low. At the beginning we did all kinds of things, there were agreements between the schools, they came in minibuses, the children from Gura Padinii, from Grojdibodu visited, once we even had some students come from I don't know where, from Bucharest, but so, let's say, sir, tomorrow there are citizens from the commune or from elsewhere who want to visit the museum, I haven't had any requests lately or since I've been here”. the mayor also said.

The museum has operated for over 60 years in the building pictured PHOTO: Olt Culture Directorate

The 10,000 objects were reached in time, including the villagers collecting objects found after some work in the household. The mayor says that they would not necessarily have a great patrimonial value and that not all of them would have been discovered within the locality.

“I can't tell you if they come from within the locality or from the Celeiu settlement. I mean, we kept digging, we made water and canals everywhere, and we didn't find even a bowl, a shard of something. Because we are on the border with Celeiu and then with Corabia. I can't figure out where they came from”added the mayor.

Because it is hard to believe, the mayor also said, that someone specialized will come to Orlea as a museographer for a salary of 3,000 lei net, an option could be to hand over the museum to another institution, only to find that interested institution that will also assume the responsibility and the cost.

“I don't know, probably we will make a decision in this sense, either a teaching or an employment. But I think I would try a job first”, the mayor also said. However, he rejects the version of the theft of objects from the museum and says that most likely there is a misunderstanding in the middle.

The representatives of the Olt County Police Inspectorate confirmed for “Adevărul” that they have an open criminal file under the aspect of committing the crime of qualified theft, carrying out specific investigations regarding the act.