A beautifully arranged museum of Romanian folk culture in a red-brick neoromanian palace on Șoseaua Kiseleff. Rooms are organised by theme — costumes, ceramics, icons, weaving — and the curation is unusually thoughtful; objects are grouped to tell a story rather than displayed in vitrines like specimens. The painted-glass icon collection is the best in the country, and the entire wooden church transported from Transylvania and reassembled in the courtyard is worth the visit alone.
In the basement, the original Communist-era museum has been preserved as an installation: Stalin busts, propaganda posters, and a re-creation of an interrogation room. The contrast is the point. There is a good shop selling genuine folk craft and a courtyard café. Allow two or three hours.