The kula of Curtişoara was built in the beginning of the 18th century by a local family. During the last decades of the 18th century it became the possession of the Cornoiu family and remained so until 1927 when Constantin Neamțu, the founder of the Commercial Bank, bought it together with the whole domain from the last descendant of the Cornoiu family.
Constantin Neamțu restored both the manor and the church and built a summer residence on the domain for his family and children and did siteworks for the entire park. At the same time annex buildings were erected and infrastructure works were done at the end of which the property had an electrical generator, running water for irrigation and common use, wastewater integrated system, a phone line, which was something unique for the whole county of Gorj except for the town of Tg. Jiu. Constantin also began the process of listing both the church and the kula as historical monuments during the interwar period.
The restoration and siteworks of the domain were made possible by arh. Constantin Iotzu, whom Neamțu had met as he was working on the current building of the City Hall of Craiova together with arh. Ion Mincu. Constantin Neamțu envisioned transforming Kula Cornoiu into an exhibit space for his impressive collection of traditional carpets and other traditional folk art of Gorj.
During the interwar period, until the nationalisation of the domain in 1946, many acquaintances and friends of the Neamțu family had been lodged there amongst whom Brâncuși, who resided al Kula Cornoiu while building the memorial in Tg. Jiu.
The Curțișoara domain was nationalised after the war together with all the traditional folk artifacts from the C. Neamțu collection. The landlord died in Jilava prison several months later. After the nationalisation the domain was briefly used as the local GAS (communal agricultural complex) suffering destructions. Later, in the 1970s, the leadership of the Museum of Tg. Jiu managed to relocate the GAS and transform the domain into the Gorj County Village Museum, repairing the previous damages. Wooden houses were dismantled and brought onto the domain from other Gorj county villages in order to create a true open air village museum.
After 1989, the legal heirs of C. Neamțu began the reclaiming procedure for the domain. The procedure was only completed in 2006. During this period, the Gorj County Village Museum continued to function. After 2006 although the museum was allowed to function on the domain the restoration works needed have been supported from the owners’ personal funds.
