Cosmin MURARAȘU, founder of “Village Museums”, at FERM 2025: “Only together can we save the rural cultural heritage”
100 economic opportunities for the development of the Moldova Region on the A7 Highway route
REGIONAL ECONOMIC FORUM MOLDOVA 2025
19th Edition – Vatra Dornei, July 9–13, 2025
Thematic Panel:
Culture and Regional Identity – Tradition, Innovation, and Social Cohesion
Speaker:
Cosmin Murarașu – founder of the initiative “Village Museums”
Intervention Topic:
“The Living Village as a Cultural Product – Digitization and Connection to Thematic Tourist Routes”
Within Panel 10 – Culture and Regional Identity – Tradition, Innovation, and Social Cohesion of the Regional Economic Forum Moldova 2025, held in Vatra Dornei, Cosmin Murarașu, founder of the Village Museums initiative, highlighted a pressing yet often overlooked issue: the decline of cultural heritage in rural areas and the lack of visitors to village museums.
From Idea to a Platform with International Impact
In 2019, Cosmin Murarașu launched a series of projects dedicated to promoting tangible cultural heritage, emphasizing modern visual tools such as interactive 3D virtual tours. His goal: attracting young audiences and awakening the curiosity of those who traditionally do not visit museums.
“I visited over 105 museums in rural areas, across 88 localities, and unfortunately, the feedback was less than encouraging: everywhere I found a lack of visitors and insufficiently trained staff to tell the story of the place.”
The “Village Museums” project, officially launched in 2021, today includes 104 virtual tours, also integrated into Google Maps, and has recorded over 115,000 online visitors from Romania, the USA, the Republic of Moldova, and other countries. Through social media, the initiative reached more than 1.6 million users, while the project developer, Real Tour Ro, holds a portfolio of 180 virtual tours of Romanian museums and cultural sites, amassing over 10 million views on Google Maps/Earth/Street View.
Heritage Without People, Heritage Lost
Murarașu emphasized the importance of the story and the person behind the cultural site.
“If we do not have a competent person who knows how to tell the story of the place, we lose the visitor’s interest. Without complementary activities, tourists will not return.”
His travels across the country revealed stark contrasts: from abandoned museums and memorial houses, at risk of disappearing once the last custodian is gone, to examples of good practice, such as the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Memorial Museum in Oltenia, where the community rallied around heritage, attracting tourists and contributing to the local economy.
Vicious Circle: Lack of Funding and Heritage Degradation
His speech highlighted a dangerous phenomenon: budget cuts in culture lead to the impossibility of promoting heritage, which reduces the visitor flow, and this lack accelerates the degradation of cultural sites.
“If we do not go, if we do not actively support culture, if we do not get involved, then we will lose our value and reach the point where we will say: we had it, we lost it, and we can no longer recover.”
Digital – A Gateway, Not a Substitute
Cosmin Murarașu stressed that digitization should not be seen as a replacement for physical experience.
“Nothing compares to a real visit. Our platform does not aim to replace cultural tourism, but to create bridges between the public and heritage sites, sparking the desire to go there.”
Call for Collaboration
Finally, his message was one of unity and joint action: institutions, NGOs, the private sector, and independent projects must find a common platform for showcasing and promotion.
“Only together can we succeed, especially in the difficult times we are going through.”
Conclusion
Cosmin Murarașu’s intervention at the Regional Economic Forum Moldova 2025 revealed a clear but often neglected reality: rural cultural heritage urgently needs support, innovation, and collaboration. In the digital era, modern solutions such as virtual tours can play a vital role in promoting and revitalizing cultural sites in villages, but they cannot replace authentic experiences and human involvement.
To ensure cultural heritage does not become merely a memory, it is imperative that all stakeholders — authorities, the private sector, NGOs, and local communities — act together, finding sustainable ways to valorize and promote rural culture. Only in this way can heritage continue to be a living source of identity, social cohesion, and regional development.
