VISIT THE HISTORY OF ROMANIA MUSEUM IN THE OLD CITY

The Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest is near Stavropoleos Church. It is right in the OLD CITY and a few steps from Victory Avenue and CEC PALACE. There are two stories for you to know about this museum: how it did came into being as a museum and the history of the building. Since we have been living in Bucharest for more than 24 years, we visited it many times. It is spectacular, indeed and it is worth visiting. Though it is not entierly at visitors’ disposal. That means there are many rooms closed and a lot of artefacts hidden in different warehouses. Yet, you can see lots of interesting things here.

ROMANIAN HISTORY AND BUCHAREST

The history of Bucharest National History Museum begins in the late 17th century. More precisely, it was in 1690. In that year, the lord Constantin Brancoveanu found out that one of his boyars did a huge mistake. So, he sentenced him to death. He also demolished la the boyar’s houses. The lord Brancoveanu’s soldiers also beheaded him. They brought his head to Bucharest and put it on a spear right in the middle of his proprieties. It was the land where the ROMANIA NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM rises today. This is a local legends. Historians did not find evidence of such an execution. 

THE MUSEUM FROM EARLY PERIOD TO NOWADAYS

What is clear is that Brancoveanu decided to build on this land an inn. A great fire destroyed the entire construction in 1847. It was more than a hundred years since Brancoveanu’s death.  A few years later, authorities pun to the ground the remains of this inn. And in 1857 they built a concert hall. Then a modest building used to house many circuses. More than 20 years after that the area became a market. In 1894, authorities started the works for a special building for the National Post, or the central Post.

The Romanian National History Museum was still far from what you can see today here. The architect Alexandru Savulescu built it from 1894 to 1900. It will be the headquarters of the National Post until 1970. Since then it is the new Romanian National History Museum.

COLLECTIONS DONATED FOR ROMANIA NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM BUCHAREST

Yet, a national history museum existed before 1970. It had different headquarters. The founding of the National history Museum belongs to a 19th century boyar. It was Mihalcea Ghica who signed a decree for founding the museum in 1834. He had lot of ancient artifacts, sculptures, paintings and old writings from Byzantium to Greek and Roman culture. He had found them on the Romanian territory. And he donated them to the museum in the beginning. In 1864, another Romanian scholar, Alexandru Odobescu, founded the National Museum for Antiquities. It was part of the University of Bucharest and then of the Romanian Academy. The exhibitions came to the Romanian National History Museum in 1970. An interesting piece of history you will not find here is the story of maps made about this territory. They are exhibited at OLD MAPS MUSEUM BUCHAREST!

 

THE ROMAN COLUMN AND THE CROWNS OF THE KINGS AT ROMANIA HISTORY MUSEUM IN BUCHAREST

There are 60 rooms in the museum, not always all of them available for tourists. Yet, you can see about 600,000 pieces of history, from Antiquity, to Middle Ages and modern history.

You will see how people used to live in the Roman period, before 300 A.D. here in Romania. There are also the weapons used in the dark middle ages or in World War I or II. In the underground floor you can see ancient golden pieces like the Pietroasa treasure. It is also the hen with the golden chickens or the golden skull discovered at Cotofanesti. Thieves stole this skull from a museum in Drents, Netherlands in 2025. Police found it a year late. Spectacular is also the Lapidarium, a copy of Emperor Traian’s column in Rome. It is one of the best copies ever made. Here are also burial stones carved since ancient times.

WHAT ELSE TO SEE

From time to time, some of the collection kept here go to BUCHAREST MUSEUM for different exhibitions or cultural events. The crowns of the Romanian kings and queens are also here at the Romanian History Museum in Bucharest. And also the amazing golden bracelets from the Ist century AD or even older. Thieves have stolen them, yet police brought them back from Romania, Germany and other European Countries.

You will need a few hours to visit the entire Romanian National History Museum in Bucharest, or maybe more but it will be an interesting journey. Don’t forget to take pictures and make selfies with the Emperor and the wolf in front of the monumental stairs and columns at the entrance of the museum. You can also visit the TOYS MUSEUM BUCHAREST, an exhibition with toys from 1950 to 1980 from Eastern Europe but also from China or Japan. About the period 1947 – 2007, an interesting collection is to be seen, at least now in 2019, at the Contemporary Art Museum in Bucharest inside the Palace of Parliament.
SEE MAP…