The idea of creating an open-air museum in ROMANIA took root in 1867, when ALEXANDRU ODOBESCU, an eminent man of culture, proposed the presentation, within the Universal Exhibition in PARIS, in a special pavilion, of some monuments of Romanian popular architecture .
   Later, the scholar ALEXANDRU TZIGARA-SAMURCAS would bring to the Museum of Ethnography, National Art, Decorative Art and Industrial Art in BUCHAREST, established by him in 1906, some "authentic and complete households from all the major regions inhabited by Romanians".
   These initiatives constituted the premises for the foundation of the first open-air ethnographic museums in ROMANIA.
   In this context, between 1925–1935, the University of Bucharest, Department of Sociology, organized interdisciplinary monographic research in villages from different regions of Romania, each time ending with a temporary exhibition.
   The scholar DIMITRIE GUSTI realized that the temporary exhibitions at the sociology seminar did not serve to demonstrate his ideas, and proposed the organization of the Romanian Village Museum in BUCHAREST.
   For the organization of the future museum, professor DIMITRIE GUSTI and his collaborators accepted the proposal of the BUCHAREST city hall to organize it in the Charles II National Park (today the King Mihai Park), on an area of 4,500 square meter, on the edge of BĂNEASA Lake, the works starting in March 1936 and completed by May 10.
   The "Prince Carol" Royal Foundation, which morally and materially supported the project, wanted the inauguration of the Museum to take place, along with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the royal dynasty of ROMANIA.
  The constructions, selected during the research, were dismantled and brought to BUCHAREST, together with 130 master builders, in 56 train cars.
   The official opening of the VILLAGE MUSEUM took place on May 10, 1936, in the presence of King CAROL II, and for the public, a week later, on May 17, 1936.