[2] Structures in the museum ranged from the 17th to the 20th century, representative of different ethnographic regions including Banat, Transylvania, Moldavia, Maramures, Oltenia, Dobrogea, Muntenia.

The location plans were executed by the writer, playwright, director Victor Ion Popa and set designer Henri H. Stahl.

The necessary financial funds were provided by the Royal Cultural Foundation and in the presence of King Carol II of Romania the museum was inaugurated on 10 May 1936.

[3] At the time of its inauguration, it was the fourth open-air museum of Europe after Skansen (Stockholm, Sweden), Norsk Folkemuseum at Bygdøy (Oslo, Norway), and the Ethnographic Museum of Transylvania at Hoia Forest in Cluj-Napoca.

[3] The museum initially was 4.5 ha in size with 33 authentic settlements that were transferred from the researched villages.