The Museum of Romanian Literature (Muzeul Literaturii Române) is a literary museum in Iași, housed on the first floor of the House of Museums (Casa Muzeelor). Its permanent exhibition traces major writers, journals, literary groups, and movements in Romanian literature through manuscripts, books, documents, photographs, personal objects, and contemporary installations.
The museum grew out of the literature section of the former Iași museum complex, which was reorganized in 1972 as the Museum of Moldavian Literature. For more than four decades, its main exhibition was housed in the Pogor House, the historic meeting place of the Junimea literary society. When the Pogor House underwent a new restoration and was reorganized around the history of Junimea, the literature museum was transferred to Casa Muzeelor and reopened there in 2021 with a completely new permanent exhibition.
Eleven of the museum’s fourteen rooms follow the development of Romanian literature through individual writers and important literary circles or publications. The sequence includes Mihail Kogălniceanu and Dacia literară, Vasile Alecsandri, the Junimea society, Titu Maiorescu, Mihai Eminescu, Ion Creangă, I.L. Caragiale, Sofia Nădejde, Viața românească, and Hortensia Papadat-Bengescu. Together, the displays show how Iași repeatedly became a center for writers, editors, and literary movements whose influence extended across Romania.
The final three rooms take a different approach, using contemporary art installations rather than conventional historical displays. Ion Barbu created a room devoted to Iași’s bohemian literary life, Felix Aftene designed Rezervația de îngeri, and Matei Bejenaru created ABIS.03, each interpreting literature through a modern visual language.
The museum is administered by the National Museum of Romanian Literature Iași, and is one of five museums inside the House of Museums. It can be visited with an individual ticket, or with a combined ticket for all five.
