Salciua de Jos, Alba County
Located in the middle of Transylvania, on the Arieș Valley, the village of Sălciua de Jos is representative for the traditional architecture characteristic of the Apuseni Mountains from the beginning of the 19th century. Among the important occupations of the population of Moți, together with pastorate and agriculture, we mention forest work, mining and wood processing.
From this area it was transferred to the museum in 1936, the household of the village Ion Buta, dated in 1815. Both the house and the food chamber are made of fir beams carved in four faces, erected on stone bases. The roof with fast slopes is three times taller than the walls and has a wrap of wheat straw "ironed with the foot". The house has a special charm, emphasized both by the succession of the pillars and arches on the porch, as well as the wooden cuts with ornamental shapes, placed as a spider's canvas in front of the tiny windows, covered in the past with "sheep bell". We notice how the heavy living conditions of the past have generated and preserved here the most archaic architectural forms.
The plan of the house is simple, being composed of a tent and a room. In the first is a high fireplace with suspended pyramidal basket, built of basalt plates. The living room impresses with the richness of woolen fabrics and glazed ceramic parts, as well as cotton woven towels, hanging on the walls after plates and icons. The furniture of the room includes a high bed fixed on two sides between the beams of the walls, lavi, a high table, a few chairs with carved backrest, dowry crates, as well as a cradle hanging from the beams of the ceiling. The small wooden utensils, the torso forks, the chips for the hemp floss, the seam tiles, Sorcova or the water drinking are remarkable.
