Tourists from around the world, from the United States, South America and across Europe, are increasingly drawn to the museum established on the site of the military unit in Targoviste where Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed in 1989.

On the very day AGERPRES visited the former military unit near Targoviste railway station - now transformed into the Dambovita Military Traditions Museum - Cavalry School - on a rainy spring Friday, two groups of visitors were touring the site: one made up of foreign students from Bucharest and another of pupils from Turkey visiting Targoviste through an Erasmus project.

This is the first year the museum has joined the Night of Museums programme and it can be visited free of charge on Saturday, May 23.

'It is a museum for which it would be difficult to find anything similar not only in Romania. There is such an interesting and special blend within this building that we could almost discuss every day a different theme, subtheme, idea or personality, from before the time of Mircea the Elder right up to the 2000s and beyond. It is true, this is the first time the museum is taking part in the Night of Museums programme. So far, the museum has recorded a large number of visitors from outside Dambovita County and even from outside Romania. Therefore, it is a very good test for us as an institution to see how the people of Targoviste will react because, during Night of Museums, we expect to welcome local residents, and I am very interested to see their reaction because we all pass by this building and this building carries a special memory, as it is the place where Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu met their end,' Irina Cirstina, museographer at the Targoviste 'Curtea Domneasca' (Princely Court) National Museum Complex, told AGERPRES.

The museum is organised into two main sections. The ground floor recreates the atmosphere of the final years of communism. The original furniture has been preserved, as have the decorative elements and colour schemes from 1989. Visitors can tour the office of military unit commander Colonel Andrei Kemenici, the detention rooms where the Ceausescus were held, the trial room and reconstructed spaces depicting everyday life under communism. In the inner courtyard stands the wall against which Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were executed, while archival footage from the December 25, 1989 trial is screened in the conference hall.

The upper floor focuses on Targoviste's military history and the legacy of the city's Cavalry School, displaying photographs, uniforms, weapons, medals, personal belongings of officers and military publications.

From the moment visitors enter the building, they are immersed in the atmosphere of an event that changed history. One of the museum's most striking sections is the reconstructed trial room, complete with mannequins dressed in military uniforms and carrying assault rifles. The reconstruction follows the original details closely, including the placement of judges, prosecutors and soldiers, as well as the paper airplane folded by General Victor Stanculescu during the proceedings.

'In the video footage, you can see that General Stanculescu had made himself a paper airplane and was playing with it while waiting for the trial to end. We recreated even this detail,' says Irina Cirstina.

The clothes worn by those present at the trial were recreated based on the original footage filmed on December 25, 1989. The military uniforms are authentic, while the clothes worn by Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu were reproduced by specialists in historical reenactments.

'Everything has been reconstructed rigorously. Prosecutor Voinea, for example, appears dressed exactly as in the footage, with blue jeans and a sweater. Everyone is seated exactly as in the original images,' explains Irina Cirstina.

Visitors are often surprised by the small size of the room.

'On television it looked like a large hall. In reality, it was an administrative office hastily adapted for the trial,' explains Irina Cirstina.

The museum also seeks to recreate the uncertainty and panic that marked those days. According to the museographer, soldiers and officers in the unit feared terrorist attacks and constantly moved the Ceausescus around the compound, often disguising them in military uniforms and transporting them in armoured vehicles through the courtyard during the day. Nicolae Ceausescu reportedly believed for a time that workers gathering outside the gates had come to rescue him and hoped he could still address them publicly.

The execution site itself has been preserved almost intact, with bullet marks still visible on the wall. The museum also recounts lesser-known stories from the dictator's final hours, including his treatment for diabetes and his expectation that loyalist forces would eventually intervene.

'They selected three paratroopers to fire, but in practice only one carried out the decisive shots. Soldiers from the unit itself were not used for the execution. Those paratroopers were brought in from outside. The man who fired is the one visitors can see in the trial room, behind the prosecution - there is a mannequin there, representing the paratrooper, and his name is displayed. He was the only one who fired. Nicolae and Elena Ceausescu had their hands tied, Elena protested, they were taken outside and led there. Three people had been assigned to shoot. One did not fire at all, one fired wildly, and this paratrooper, Boieru, he fired. It is known that it happened at 2:45 p.m.,' explains Irina Cirstina.

Beyond December 1989, the museum tells the broader story of the building and the city itself. The main hall preserves its original colours from the reign of King Ferdinand, while new technologies are being used to bring history closer to the public. For the first time in a museum in Dambovita County, holograms have been introduced, allowing visitors upstairs to see and hear figures such as Mircea the Elder, Vlad the Impaler, Matei Basarab and Constantin Brancoveanu.

According to museum representatives, around 70% of visitors are foreigners or tourists from other Romanian counties. Groups from France, Spain and Turkey have visited, along with individual tourists from South America.

'Someone from South America recently wrote to us saying they are coming specially to Europe and want to visit Targoviste. There is huge interest in this place,' says Irina Cirstina.

The museum is currently undergoing digitalisation, and future visitors will be able to use audio guides and access rare books about the 1989 Revolution and the beginnings of Romania's post-communist period.

'We want people to come here not only to visit, but also to stay, to read and to understand the historical context,' explains Irina Cirstina.

For her, the museum's mission is clear: to present history honestly.

'We must be as well prepared and as honest with the public as possible. History was written in this building and people want to understand what happened here,' the museographer concludes. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Cornelia Dumitru; EN - writing by: Simona Iacob)