National History Museum of Romania

National History Museum of Romania

Muzeul Național de Istorie a României
National History Museum of Romania
Established	1892 (1892)
Location	12 Calea Victoriei, Bucharest, Romania
Coordinates	44°25′53.51″N 26°5′50.01″E
Website	www.mnir.ro

The National History Museum of Romania (Romanian: Muzeul Național de Istorie a României) is a museum located at 12 Calea Victoriei in Bucharest, Romania, which contains Romanian historical artifacts from prehistoric times up to modern times.

Overview

The museum is located inside the former Postal Services Palace, which also houses a philatelic museum. With a surface of over 8,000 square metres (86,000 square feet), the museum has approximately 60 valuable exhibition rooms. The permanent displays include a plaster cast of the entirety of Trajan's Column, the Romanian Crown Jewels, and the Pietroasele treasure.[1]

The building was authorized, in 1892, and the architect, Alexandru Săvulescu was sent with the postal inspector, Ernest Sturza, to tour various postal facilities of Europe for the design. The final sketches were influenced primarily by the postal facility in Geneva. Built in an eclectic style, it is rectangular with a large porch on a high basement and three upper floors. The stone façade features a portico supported by 10 Doric columns and a platform consisting of 12 steps spanning the length of the building. There are many allegorical sculptural decorative details.[2]

As of 2012^[update], the museum is undergoing extensive restoration work and is only partially open; a late medieval archaeological site was discovered under the building.[3]

On 25 January 2025, the Helmet of Coțofenești, a Geto-Dacian helmet that was loaned by the museum to the Drents Museum in Assen, the Netherlands, was stolen along with three other loaned gold artifacts following a heist and remains missing.[4] Following the theft, the loan agreement was met with criticism in Romania.[5] On 28 January, the Romanian minister of Culture Natalia Intotero fired the museum's director, Ernest Oberländer, saying that he had "failed to adequately protect the national heritage".[6]

Gallery

• 
  The main view of the building
• 
  Arcades
• 
  Frontal view
• 
  Trajan's Column: permanent exhibit
• 
  Trajan's column
• 
• 
  A portrait of Elisabeth of Wied in the museum
• 
  The sarcophagus of Princess Bălașa Cantacuzino
• 
  The Steel Crown and the Crown of Queen Elizabeth
• 
  The Golden Helmet of Coțofenești, a Geto-Dacian helmet from the first half of the 4th century BC and was stolen while it was on loan to the Drents Museum in the Netherlands in 2025.
• 
  Various objects associated with the Siege of Plevna
• 
  Dacian bracelet
• 
  Costumes hall
• 
• 
  Watches exhibition
• 
  Thinker of Hamangia
• 
  Sofia Potocky's Sarcophagus

See also

• Romania lunar sample displays
• List of museums in Bucharest

References

1. "cIMeC - Muzee și Colecții din România". ghidulmuzeelor.cimec.ro.
2. "Palatul Poștelor din București" (in Romanian). Bucharest, Romania: World Wide Romania. 6 February 2015. Archived from the original on 28 May 2015. Retrieved 28 May 2015.
3. "Muzeul Național de Istorie a României".
4. "Theft in Netherlands of ancient golden helmet leaves Romania distraught". AP News. 28 January 2025.
5. "Veldkamp: alles op alles zetten om gestolen kunst Drents Museum te vinden". NOS (in Dutch). 27 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
6. "Verdachten kunstroof komen uit Noord-Holland, directeur Roemeens museum ontslagen". NOS (in Dutch). 28 January 2025. Retrieved 28 January 2025.

External links

• Media related to National Museum of Romanian History at Wikimedia Commons
• Official website
• Friends Association ( Romanian/English/French )