Department of Natural Sciences

The Department of Natural Sciences is the direct descendant of the Society of Natural Sciences of Timișoara (1873-1918), which focused around it important personalities of Timișoara at that time, such as Dr. V. Szmolay, E. Merkl, Dr. L. Kuhn , Dr. L. Tökés, G. Czirbusz, Zs. Ormós and others, as well as world personalities of the time, such as E. Holub and others. More than 125 years ago, the Society of Natural Sciences set out to cultivate and spread all fields of natural sciences in general and to research the natural conditions of Banat in particular. For this purpose he held popularization conferences, organized excursions and expeditions for collection and study in Banat, set up the Museum of Natural Sciences, a specialized library, edited the Society’s bulletin, Notebooks of Natural Sciences, and I got in touch with others. similar companies, by correspondence, exchange of publications and visits. Due to the effervescence of the cultural-scientific activity carried out by the Society of Natural Sciences from Timișoara, Banat was discovered from a naturalistic point of view. the telegraph, etc., have publicly used telephony since 1882 (national premiere), and since November 12, 1884 they have illuminated the streets of the city with electricity (European premiere), had a laboratory for the analysis of food and milk, a meteorological and seismological resort, and many others, which made Timișoara a modern European city at the end of the last century.

In the interwar period (1919-1945) the old collections, which diminished due to inadequate spaces and specific pests, were gradually replaced by the new collections. The first exhibitions are being built, and the new ways of exhibiting, in biogroups and dioramas, open a modern period of Romanian museology, whose spiritual mentors and main organizers were G. Antipa in Bucharest and D. Linția in Timișoara. Dionisie Linția (1880-1952), hunter, dermoplastician and learned ornithologist, led and built the Museum of Natural Sciences until the end of his life, laid the foundations of the largest collection of native birds in Romania, compiled the first catalog of this collection , established the Jurilovca-Timișoara Ornithological Resort (the first ornithological resort in the country), participated in the organization of the First Congress of Naturalists in Romania. His name is also linked to the establishment of the Sinaia Zoo, the Hubertus Hunting Society, the Timișoara Sleeping Fishing Society, etc. His work, The Birds of Romania, in 3 volumes, is the leading book of ornithologists and includes all the data known in this specialty up to him.

In 1954, the Museum of Natural Sciences moved to Huniade Castle, second floor, as an integral part of the Banat Museum, later the Banat Museum of Timisoara, where it still exists today, with a specific dynamic of exhibitions. On the anniversary of the Museum, in 1973, the inventory of the Department of Natural Sciences consisted of over 35,000 museum pieces, had temporary and traveling exhibitions. Among those who completed this unique cultural work we mention E. Nadra, Dr. F. König, Dr. Dumitru Spătaru, Elena Stratul, C. Riskcuția, as specialists, C. Borsicki, A. Rădulescu, I. Szaappanos, D Hard as artists. In the period 1984-1985, the Natural Sciences Department was 80% demolished, under the political impetus of the time, and well-arranged warehouses were moved to inappropriate places.

Today, the Natural Sciences Department offers visitors the permanent exhibitions “Flora and fauna of Banat” (the last documentary section of micro and macrodioramas of the Romanian museum technique), “Evolution of man” (reconstruction revised in 1997 after the initial model from 1972), , in the form of microdioramas, unique national) and “Mineralogy” (completion and selective replacement in 1998 of the material from the exhibition made in 1972). The restoration of the visiting circuit on the second floor is a major desideratum in the concerns of the Section’s staff. The Department of Natural Sciences has over 50,000 museum pieces, distributed based on scientific criteria in collections, of which the most significant are: Rock and Mineral Collection, Paleontology Collection, Pressed Plant Collection (Herbarium),