I had read many books about and referencing this place before getting here. Only a part of the old building can be visited, the rest is a private company. The museum also works as a private company, which is admirable, but makes it hard to sustain themselves. There are boards in each room and the track takes you through the horrors of those times, with context and follow up. As a society, it is essential to have such memorials to help us learn, understand and remember so that we can consciously decide how we want our life to be.

Powerful place. A huge history lesson is hidden behind these walls, offering an insight into Romanian history and forgotten happenings. The entry is free of charge (although I would highly advise to charge a fee or provide entry based on a donation). At the moment, you only pay if you wish to attend a guided tour, otherwise you can visit based on an audio guide on your phone and in your own pace. Friendly and helpful staff.

If Pitesti is on your way (for example going to Poenari, Timisoara, East Rumania, etc) don't doubt it. Take a while and stop here in the Prisión Memorial. Although the venues are not so "real"" as other prisons (because they have been already partially transformed for other purposes) the guided tour is really worthy. In our case, Maria made a very complete explanation, in very good English (she also know a bit of Spanish) of what happened there that made us feel what happened there indeed. It's a small hidden place, but with a great value to understand history of the Communist Romania. They need to improve the visit, may be more furniture, clothing, mannequins, models, videos,... of that period. But they are in the good way and the guided tour was great.

This place must be visited; it hides some terrible facts that happened during the Pitesti experiment. Thank you, Catalina for the tour 👏

Not much to see really. Just some empty walls in most of the rooms. The guide was alright. They have a nice little library.

One of the most horrible prison crimes in Romania during communism rule took place here. We really recommend to take a guide tour. We had English version is was very much worth it. Super informative, educational and interesting. It takes around 1h to walk through. It is hard and emotional, but worth the visit.

A very interesting museum and an important piece of history. We downloaded the app to tour the exhibits in English and spent a little over an hour here. The cost to enter was 20 Lei per adult which we felt was very reasonable. A special shout-out to the staff who were so friendly and welcoming.

One of the best museum related experiences in Romania I have ever had. Congratulations to all the people involved in the endeavor. One tip would be getting a guided tour, it offers so much more than just perusing the building on your own. And as an added bonus, all profits they make are donations.

A real hidden gem. Definitely worth visiting. A truly shocking but fascinating piece of history. Before we went, we had read reviews saying that there wasn't much in English, but we didn't have any problems with that at all - while it's true that a lot of the signs were in Romanian, you can get an audio guide in English for 20 lei per person or a person to give you a guided tour for 50 lei per person so there was no problem with this at all. We went for the person giving a guided tour option and it was fantastic. The guide was really knowledgeable (she normally works as one of the historical researchers there when not giving tours) and told the story of the prison very well. They prefer it if you phone in advance to let them know when you're coming if you want an in person tour. Would 100% recommend.

Great experience and guided tour in English. Very emotional!

Visited with no specific expectations, and was very impressed. The self-guided tour (with app for English speakers) runs chronologically through the rooms. The staff were very helpful, and the artwork, information curation, and ambiance were done well. The history/subjects are (obviously) heavy, and told with respect and reverence. A great example of a simple, small memorial museum done well.

I stumbled on this place by accident but it's definitely worth a recommendation. The story of this former prison is mind-boggling: prisoners "re-educating" other prisoners through violence. It's sickening, but told in a gripping way. The signs are all in Romanian but there's an app (called MIP, it has a red icon in the appstore) wich tells the story in English and works great. And a special shout out to the lady who works there, she's very nice and helpful and speaks perfect English!

I've been trying to get there for a while. After reading and studying this for a while the moment has come. Even the prison was bigger in the past, now only a part of it can be visited, the rest being owned by private companies which remodelled the rooms accordingly. The association that takes care of the museum is self sustained one so the contribution is recommended. I chose guided tours as I wanted to offer support as well. The rooms are not having so many description but 1 big poster with images and details in each room is enough to make you understand what happened there. Only the idea of Pitești being one of the most horrible prisons of the Romanian communist regime makes you feel threatened. Having goosebumps especially while visiting the actual small church inside, where a lot of theological students, law and medicine students, intelectual ones, were tortured, beaten and mentally abused for many times. Huge round of appreciations for the guide, very nice performance. Only suggestion would be to make it more personally, many times the speech looked only like a school lesson. Overall nice experience which I personally loved!

Very friendly and kind guide. A place to visit without children, very interesting, unfortunately sad. You will learn a lot about the history and the "Pitesti phenomen". You can enter without the entrance fee but it is worth the donation at the exit! I highly recommend to visit it !

Extremely informative insight into the communist extermination, work, and "reeducation" camps. Truly a dark time in this country's history

An impressive museum it is. Very informative and is a great place to learn about the history of the country. The staff is nice. Very much appreciate that it is free of charge. *The app is not functioning too well and patches are probably needed😅