Particularly well known outside the country are the woven rugs, tablecloths, and tapestries that decorate all rural homes and many urban ones. Designs are mostly geometric, and particular designs and color combinations are associated with particular regions. Well known for their unusual design and warm colors are Oltenian textiles in which a central animal, human, or floral design is surrounded by several frames of different colors. Muntenian textiles, on the other hand, have small geometric designs spread over the whole surface. Moldavian and Transylvanian textiles vary a great deal from one location to another and include both geometric and figurative designs. At one time, wool was used exclusively for weaving rugs and tapestries, but since the mid-nineteenth century cotton or hemp warp has been used in combination with wool. All-cotton and all-hemp rugs and wall hangings are also produced.

Pottery of various kinds is made both as decorative objects and as household utensils. Plates, pots, and jugs are used to serve and store food, but they are also displayed on shelves along the walls of peasant houses, making the interiors colorful and cheerful. The shapes, colors, and designs of the pottery show the many cultural influences from Neolithic to modern West European. Two distinct types of pottery are produced: a black pottery made by incomplete firing of clay with much smoke, and the more common red pottery. Black pottery, the origins of which date back to the Bronze Age or earlier, is made mostly in Moldavia and eastern Transylvania. It has a highly polished finish, which is achieved by the use of a special stone. The widely produced red pottery may be glazed or unglazed and is usually decorated in some fashion—by painting, scratching a design into the wet clay, or applying a design in relief.

Among the more unusual forms of folk art that continue to be practiced are the decoration of Easter eggs and painting on glass. Easter is a special time not only because of its religious significance but also because it heralds the beginning of the growing season, and Easter eggs as a symbol of fertility are an important element of the festivities. Eggs are decorated with highly ornamental patterns in various ways and often become respected works of art.

Painting on glass was introduced into Transylvania in the seventeenth century from Bohemia and was used for the production of religious icons. Icon painting formed an important bridge between folk art and the fine arts in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It is no longer widely practiced.

A number of contemporary artists utilize the various forms of folk art as their medium of artistic expression. Their designs include not only the traditional but also elements of modern art styles, such as cubism and abstraction.

Fine Arts

The beginnings of fine art in Romania date back to the fourteenth century when frescoes and other paintings were created to decorate the churches of the period. All of the early art was created in connection with churches, although not all of it was religious in content. Portraits of those responsible for the building of churches or monasteries, and of their families, were often included among the pictures of saints and biblical scenes that decorate the interior and exterior walls of medieval religious buildings.

Romanian church art of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries is recognized as some of the finest and most unusual of the later period of Byzantine art. It differs somewhat in style from other examples of Byzantine art of that period by reflecting the influence of folk art. Some of the finest examples are found at the Moldavian monasteries of Putna, Sucevita, and Voronet. They are unusual in that they were painted on the outside walls in order to educate the peasants in church history and in elements of their faith. The quality and imaginativeness of these frescoes has been termed one of the great contributions to European religious art. Their freshness after more than 400 years of exposure to the elements is remarkable.

In addition to paintings, religious art of the medieval period also included various objects, such as vestments, furniture, and vessels worked in wood, gold, or silver and richly decorated. Collections of these objects are preserved at the monasteries, the largest exhibits being at Sucevita and Putna.

During the seventeenth century a change in style took place in painting and other decorative arts, although the subject matter remained religious. Russian artists who had come to Moldavia and Walachia introduced the small, detailed painting of Russian iconography, which became evident in the murals and other painting of Romanian artists. At the same time, the simple, folk art decorative forms were replaced by a more elaborate style showing both Baroque and Oriental influences. A distinct Walachian style developed, and schools emerged in Bucharest and other cities. The most notable achievements of the Walachian school are the interior frescoes of the Hurez Monastery.