Discover Moldova with #MOLDPRES: Flowers Home Museum and impressive collection of lilies of Iurie Raileanu

Discover Moldova with #MOLDPRES: Flowers Home Museum and impressive collection of lilies of Iurie Raileanu

Fine French Porcelain, The Night Paris, Cosmic Feeling – all these are names of lilies from the garden of Iurie Raileanu, who two years ago moved to live in the countryside, in order to create a corner of paradise on the earth. This week, we invite you to the Flowers Home Museum, to discover the story and aspirations of the collector of flowers from the Branesti village, Orhei district.  

The Flowers Home changes its colour depending on the season. Lilies dominate here in summer.   

„You will be able to see the simplest variant of the lily, which grows also in cemeteries, at the edge of roads, up to variants of the last fashion,’’ Iurie Raileanu said. 

How everything began

Iurie Raileanu is journalist by profession. He made himself conspicuous through the signing of more albums of photographs, among which Discover Moldova and Etno Moldova. It seems that the passion for flowers comes from the 1997 year.    

„I made a material with botanist Eugenia Cernei in some 1997. She told me about iris flowers; how many species there are; how she interbreeds them. Several years later, a bank from Moldova organized a contest on the working out of a calendar. About 300 photographers participated. I had the idea to make slides with one thousand of colours of iris flowers. I went also to Kiev, Bucharest, Iasi, I took pictures everywhere. I won the Grand Prix – 6,000 dollars, with which I bought a dwelling. In some 2006, I found the material with Eugenia Cernei in the archive and started studying the genetics of plant and to make selections. When I acquired the first nuances, I was quite contended,’’ Iurie Raileanu noted.        

Subsequently, he invested in a collection of iris flowers, but the room he had was limited.

„In the beginning, I was dealing with the selection of flowers; I was getting new varieties in Chisinau. During six months, so many seeds multiplied, that I thought to find me a place in the countryside,’’ he also said.  

In this way, he got to live in the Branesti village, Orhei district. According to Raileanu, the place was chosen depending on the quality of soil and the climate. Having gathered a large number of plants, he ruled to open a museum in the open air. 

The great dream

The selection represents an important process for Iurie Raileanu. Namely this allows him getting flowers in unique colours; yet, much patience and time are needed: years should pass to see the first flower.   

„When I make the selection, I do not rely on strict principles. I feel like a painter. I acquired absolutely original nuances. You should know that, if a painter mixes up the colours, the flower superposes them,’’ Iurie explained. 

His great dream is to create unique varieties of plants, which grow only in Moldova. According to the collector, topic-related contests, such as, The most beautify iris in the world, are organized internationally, in which Iurie Raileanu would like to participate very much. 

„The rules are quite strict; it is not that easy. You preserve with you the flower five years till the blooming and then three years after the blooming. You enter in a catalogue any information about the flower: how much resistant to cold it was, how many buttons it makes, etc. Afterwards, you send it to the contest. They preserve the flower there also three years and after that, a decision is taken on whether you participate in the contest or not. My hope is to get an iris flower for this contest. Do you imagine an Evening Chisinau as the most beautiful iris flower in the world?’’ Iurie Raileanu said.   

The Flowers Home Museum 

This year, Iurie Raileanu plan to develop the infrastructure and to set information panels at each collection of flowers. He also wants to create a ‘’passport’’ for each flower from his own selection.

„I would like to have at least 10 names; we should prove that we, the Moldovans, have our flowers as well,’’ Iurie also said.   

He dedicated a new variety of iris flower to departed singer Maria Dragan and now he is looking for the lily which will bear the name of Veronica Micle.

One can admire also a collection of old columns gathered from the villagers in the garden of Iurie Raileanu. The oldest one would date back from 1864. Here it is worth mentioning that Branesti is a settlement with old traditions in cutting of stone. 

„I buy them from the village residents. I have 17 pillars from the verandah; they are also called ‘’life pillar.’’ The oldest pillar is the smallest one. Do you know why they were so small? So as you bow in front of the house, before entering it,’’ Iurie noted. 

As much as 350,000 lei has been invested so far; yet, money is still needed for the garden’s modernization. 

„I wrote applications for grants, maybe I will be lucky to win, to make my paths; it would be easier to take care. I do not need a million, at least 200,000 lei,’’ Iurie Raileanu said. 

There is an entrance fee for visitors – 25 lei – but it is not compulsory.

„If you like it, you pay; if you do not like, you do not pay,’’ the collector specified.

In the end of the excursion, Iurie Raileanu invited us to come once again in autumn, when the chrysanthemums will bloom. Raileanu told us that he had planted 100 nuances. But the most impressive is the fact that the iris flowers will bloom again in the garden of the collector from Branesti in next October.   

Reporter Iulia Pădureanu. Photo-reporter Andrei Mardari