Embroidery Design in Bucovina

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina embroidery designs.

Of the many distinctive and cultural areas that go to make up the present day country of Romania, Bucovina although one of the smallest regions, does still have an individual presence in Romania.

Bucovina, although technically a part of the Romanian region of Moldova, not to be confused with the neighbouring independent country of the same name, has a long and substantial history of craft traditions, one of the most interesting and long standing of which is that of embroidery.

Illustration: Map showing Bucovina in 1901.

European embroidery has always been identified regionally, particularly when considering the work produced in Central and Eastern Europe. Bucovina has for centuries been ruled and occupied by a series of various nations and empires from Poland, through to Turkey, eventually becoming part of the multi-national Austro-Hungarian Empire. Through all of these various differing cultural and political systems, Bucovina maintained its own identity. However, being part of a larger European crossroads of cultural and traditional exchanges, decoration and crafts within the region were obviously influenced and the embroidery examples shown here give some impression as to the range of Bucovina decorative work.

Traditional embroidery pattern work of Bucovina is that of a relatively strict geometrical style with linear design work being particularly popular, although abstract floral work is also incorporated in the naturally traditional style of the region. It must be said in all fairness that this is not a style reserved exclusively for Bucovina. It can indeed be found across the differing areas that make up modern Romania. However, although many see this geometrically linear decorative style as being typical of areas such as Bucovina, the larger region of Romania is a complex patchwork of cultural and ethnic layers, many overlapping. This has made identifying and disentangling true regional styles all the more complicated.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina woman's embroidered blouse.

To add to the complexity of the situation even just in Bucovina itself, there is a range of embroidery styles that span from strict geometrical pattern work to that of true representational floral work, some even incorporating the two extremes of embroidered styling within the same costume. The non-abstracted floral style in particular, could be seen as the work of influential styles being introduced into the region from a number of directions, whether that be Hungary, Poland, Russia or Turkey, all at one time immediate neighbours or occupying powers of Bucovina and all having this particular style of floral work within their own decorative vocabulary.

Rather than seeing the complexity of embroidery work in regions such as Bucovina as a dilution or contamination of the traditions of the region by outsiders, it might be better instead to celebrate the multi-layered fusion of styles that recognises the important role of cultural crossroads that Bucovina, its people and its craft work played over the centuries. It would be a mistake to see regions such as Bucovina, which is by no means singular in its experience, as a form of European regional backwater that contributed very little and was bypassed by the major cultural and decorative movements of the continent.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina embroidered jacket.

The accumulation of varying styles and traditions within generations of craft work such as embroidery, have added an inestimable amount of experience and inspiration to artists and designers across the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe for much of the nineteenth and well into the twentieth centuries. It is the stored vocabulary of regions such as Bucovina, that have helped to expand the parameters of the decorative arts of Europe, and their experience within the craft world can only continue to add to that richness.

Anyone interested in the fascinating and complex history of Romanian regional folk costume of which Bucovina is a part, should follow the link in the Reference links section below to the Romanian Museum site where over one hundred distinctive styles are listed and illustrated along with regional maps identifying the complex cultural and ethnic diversity of modern day Romania.

Illustration: Traditional Buckovina woman's embroidered blouse.

Further reading links:
Romanian Museum: Folk Costumes of Romania website
Bucovina: A Travel Guide to Romania's Region of Painted Monasteries
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Peasant art in Austria and Hungary
Romanian embroidery: A dying folk-art
Folk art in the Rumanian People's Republic: Costumes, woven textiles, embroideries
Leather embroidery in Romanian folk art
Embroidered Textiles: A World Guide to Traditional Patterns
Helen M. Stevens' World of Embroidery
Embroidery: Traditional Designs, Techniques, and Patterns from All over the World
Priscilla Wallachian Embroidery c.1908 - Ethnic Romanian Embroidery Technique
Romanian embroidery: A dying folk-art
Folk art in the Rumanian People's Republic: Costumes, woven textiles, embroideries
Romanian Point Lace

Traditional Bucovina Rug Work

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina rug design.

Traditional rug and carpet design comes in a number of different styles within the confines of the borders of modern day Romania. Regional variations used to be much more acute than perhaps they are today, due to better transport, communication and general interaction. The individual styles of various craft forms that were built up over centuries across Europe, had much more to do with geographical isolation than it did with any significant cultural purity, though this of course cannot be ruled out.

Illustration: Bucovina, 1901.

The rug work produced in the Romanian province of Moldova is unique within Romania as it is in Europe itself. However, within the province of Moldova itself, rug making can be defined within various geographical areas with some having a distinct and long tradition of work that has a separate identity to that even of Moldova. Bucovina, a province of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire and now split fairly evenly between Romania and Ukraine, is one of those areas. Southern Bucovina now makes up an area of north-western Romanian Moldova and is famed for a number of unique textile craft traditions including that of weaving.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina rug design.

Woven products took a number of forms in Bucovina with various domestic household items being woven from towels to bags, but it is the tradition of rug and carpet weaving that has made weavers in Bucovina consistently well regarded over the generations.

Overall, the style of Bucovina weavers and Moldovan in general was that of a more geometrical form than floral, though these were also included within the framework of Bucovinian work. The examples shown here cover both styles though the geometrical formats seem much stronger and more confidently produced. Whether the design work originated in part at least from ideas brought into the region by the spread of the Turkish Empire into Europe, is debateable though the similarities with rug design work in Turkey, the Caucasus and beyond seems more than a coincidence.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina rug design.

In the latter nineteenth century during the period of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, what was considered traditional peasant and folk art was collected avidly by both private and state individuals. Vienna and Budapest, as well as most sizable cities throughout the empire had their own ethnographic libraries, museums and galleries where local traditional crafts, as well as those further a field were collected, documented and conserved. This practise went on all over Eastern Europe and despite the turbulent political history of the region over much of the twentieth century, many of the collections remain intact and in state hands. Most cities and indeed many towns throughout Eastern Europe have ethnographic museums, which are now an invaluable storehouse of traditional crafts and skills, many of which are either no longer practised or have been drastically altered over the last century.

Illustration: Traditional Bucovina rug design.

The rug work of Bucovina was as avidly collected as any other regional craft style, and examples can still be seen in various cities throughout the region. However, the best way of seeing Bucovina woven rug work is in Bucovina itself. The Ethnographical Museum at Radauti which is a town in the north of the region, has a full complement of traditional craft skill examples from ceramics to metal and wood and including costumes and woven carpets and rugs.

Rug weaving is still being produced in Bucovina, though mostly as a support to the tourist industry. Tours both craft orientated and general, often include visits to weaving workshops within their itinerary. Some of these tours have been listed below.

Further reading links:
Ethnographical Museum of Radauti
Bucovina & Transylvania Explorer Tour
Bucovina Monastery Tour
Romanian Monasteries.org
Bucovina Tourist Area
Astro Travels - Bucovina
Traditional Folk Art website
Bucovina: A Travel Guide to Romania's Region of Painted Monasteries
A short history of Bessarabia and northern Bucovina (Romanian civilization studies)
Romania: An Illustrated History (Illustrated Histories)
Lonely Planet Romania (Country Travel Guide)
The Rough Guide to Romania 5 (Rough Guide Travel Guides)
Lonely Planet Romania and Moldova (2nd Edition)
The Mountains of Romania (Cicerone Mountain Guide)