Natural Sciences Museum Grigore Antipa in Bucharest, found near Victory Plaza, close to the Government building, carries us into many worlds while we learn some about zoology and anthropology. The journey is thousands of years old, starting with reconstructed dinosaur and mammoths skeletons.
Though a Natural Sciences museum existed in the National Museum some 150 years ago, it was reinvented by the man that now gives its name. Grigore Antipa managed the museum for more than 50 years, and he was still alive when the museum received his name. The Romanian scientist was a pioneer and an authority of organizing a museum, a topic on which he wrote one of the first books in the world.
Scientist Grigore Antipa studied many animals and organisms living in the sea or in Danube, organizing them according to Darwinist principles. The museum he extended has a large collection of rocks, stuffed animals, organisms preserved in formalin, skeletons. Very attractive are the collections of butterflies, fish and amphibians. Meeting life size elephants, giraffes, lions or dinosaurs is also impressive.
The museum suffered many reshapes, the images bellow being taken before the major reconstruction of 2011. When reopened, the museum impressed its visitors with large screen projections and interactive multimedia guides. With huge visitor lines in the days after the opening, Grigore Antipa became the most popular museum in Romania, by visitors’ number.