This is the VRL room, or in short, it’s a restoration area which is visible to visitors to the gallery. The text in the above image reads:
“The Visitable Restoration Laboratory is the first painting restoration laboratory in the narrative circuit of a permanent exhibition in Romania and the Euroregion and is integrated in the Zsigmond Ormós Gallery alongside works of art of international importance. The mission of the laboratory is to open up insights into the behind-the-scenes of the museum and to show the unseen side of the museum’s work, where science and art work together for the benefit of our memory, community and history. The pedagogical dimension of this laboratory, the workshops, activities and cutting edge equipment (advanced microscopy, multispectral technology, low pressure table with thermosetting etc.) in the workshop’s equipment create a dynamic window to and from the public, attracting various categories of visitors who are drawn to accompany the museum team on the path of interdisciplinary knowledge, to become aware of the importance of research and in-depth understanding of the artefacts that have been passed down to us with responsibility through generations of remarkable people, from Zsigmond Ormós onwards, to Ioachim Miloia and Aurel Ciupe.”
I do like this as it’s interesting to see the inner workings of an institution, although I can’t help but think that the staff think this is a bit of a nuisance to be live exhibits. They were working in the area at the back otherwise I’m not sure I would have taken this photo. It must be somewhat distracting to be trying to research something carefully with a hoard of visitors standing there gawping in. It shows transparency though which can only be a good thing.