Fălticeni is a city in Suceava County, north-eastern Romania. It is situated in the historical region of Western Moldavia. Fălticeni is the second largest urban settlement in the county, with a population of 24,619 inhabitants, according to the 2011 census. It was declared a municipality in 1995, along with two other cities in Suceava County: Rădăuți and Câmpulung Moldovenesc.
Fălticeni covers an area of 2,876 km2 (1,110 sq mi), of which 25% are orchards and lakes, and it administers two villages: Șoldănești and Țarna Mare. It was the capital of former Baia County (1929–1950). The city is known for the high number of Romanian writers, artists, and scientists who were born, lived, studied, or have created here.
Culture
There are four museums in Fălticeni. Ion Irimescu Art Museum (Muzeul de Artă “Ion Irimescu”) houses the largest collection of works of art by a single artist, Ion Irimescu, one of Romania’s greatest sculptors and sketchers, as well as a member of the Romanian Academy. The museum building is a historic monument, dating from the middle of the 19th century and had various destinations until 1974, when it was given to the art museum. In 1974 Ion Irimescu took the initiative to establish the museum, at first as a department of the Town Museum and made some donations. Later the value of the collection grew, currently being the richest author collection, and in 1991 an independent museum emerged. It comprises the most representative works by the sculptor Ion Irimescu: 313 sculptures and 1000 drawings: portraits, compositions, monument project carried out in the rondebosse or alterorelief technique, in gypsum, wood, terracotta, marble, bronze works of graphics especially donated to the museum by the author. The museum also includes the artist’s personal library (1500 volumes).
Mihai Băcescu Water Museum (Muzeul Apelor “Mihai Băcescu”) was founded in 1982 by the Romanian zoologist Mihai Băcescu, who was also a member of the Romanian Academy. This museum of natural sciences represents the enhancement and the development of the first museum established in Fălticeni, in 1914, by the professor Vasile Ciurea.
Fălticeni is the hometown of the Lovinescu family, which gave Romania four of its most distinguished men of letters of the 20th century: literary critic Eugen Lovinescu, playwright Horia Lovinescu, esoterist Vasile Lovinescu and novelist Anton Holban. The Lovinescu family contributed to founding a memorial museum in Fălticeni, House of Notable People (Galeria Oamenilor de Seamă). The museum was opened in 1972 and represents a synthesis of the city’s cultural and intellectual life.
Classics of Romanian literature, such as Ion Creangă, Mihail Sadoveanu, Vasile Alecsandri, or Nicolae Labiș, at some point in their life linked their name with that of the city by both studying and living in Fălticeni. Mihail Sadoveanu Memorial House (Casa memorială “Mihail Sadoveanu”) is a museum founded in 1987 in Fălticeni, in the house where Mihail Sadoveanu lived and created between 1909 and 1918.
