Muzeul National de Istorie Naturală Grigore Antipa
The Muzeul Național de Istorie Naturală Grigore Antipa is a natural history museum in Bucharest . It was founded on November 3, 1834 by Mihalache Ghica (1796-1850), brother of Alexandru II Ghica .
history
The founder Mihalache Ghica contributed his own collection of Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins, stones, minerals, fossils , shells, fish, birds and mammals, as well as other works of art. Even if it was initially planned as a natural history cabinet , the museum became a hodgepodge of antiques, paintings and curiosities from the natural sciences. From 1837 to 1859 Carol Wallenstein de Vella (1795–1863) was the first director for the department of zoology and mineralogy. Under his aegis, the museum was mainly a teaching body. In 1860, Italian taxidermist Carlo Ferrerati became the museum's curator and significantly expanded the collection. He was followed by Grigoriu Ștefănescu (1836–1911) from 1867 to 1893 , to whom the museum owes one of the most important exhibits, the skeleton of a tusk elephant he discovered, which he described under the name Deinotherium gigantissimum . During his time, the important collection of Hilarie Mitrea (1842–1904) also came into the museum's possession. It was not until Grigore Antipa (1867–1944) that the museum was established in its current building. Antipa was director of the museum from 1893 to 1944 and brought Robert von Dombrowski to the museum as a taxidermist. In 1933 it was King Charles II who decided to name the museum after its organizer Antipa. After the Second World War , the museum activities were expanded from 1964 to 1988 under Mihai Băcescu (1908–1999). He and his successor promoted a. a. Expeditions to Tanzania (1973), Indonesia (1991) and Brazil (1994). In 1988 Dumitru Murariu was appointed director of the museum.
literature
- Dumitru Murariu, Aurelian Popescu-Gorj: Muzeul Naţional de Istorie Naturală “Grigore Antipa” in Bucharest, Romania . In: Holarctic Lepidoptera . tape 3 , no. 2 , 1996, p. 43–46 ( troplep.org [PDF; 2.7 MB ]).
Web links
- “Grigore Antipa” National Museum of Natural History (official website of the museum)
Coordinates: 44 ° 27 '11.2 " N , 26 ° 5' 4.6" E