National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History

The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History is Chisinau, Moldova's oldest and largest historical building complex. This museum, built in 1889 in pseudo-Moorish architecture, is based on the collection of exhibits from Bessarabia's first agricultural exposition. The museum is currently a major scientific and cultural institution in Bessarabia, well-known not only in the Russian Empire, but even in European nations.

Despite various reorganizations over its existence, the museum has preserved two distinct areas: the study of Bessarabia's nature and culture. Initially, the museum was housed in the provincial zemstvo building. The Society of Naturalists of Bessarabia, founded in 1904, was instrumental in the construction of the museum. The first botanical garden in Bessarabia was established in 1906 on the grounds of the museum, which still stands today.

The museum has a museum complex in the hamlet of Ivancha, Orhei region, where the Museum of National Crafts of Moldova was inaugurated following restoration work. The museum's collection includes geological, paleontological, zoological, entomological, archaeological, anthropological, and numismatic exhibits, including the skeleton of a supergiant monster. Exhibits from the museum's collection have shown in a number of exhibits in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. In 1994, the permanent exhibition "Nature, Man, Culture" debuted, focusing on the interaction between man and nature throughout history, the evolution of the living world, the dynamics of natural resource usage, and ecology.

Location: Mihail Kogalniceanu St 82, Chișinău, Moldova

Opening hours: 10 AM - 5 PM

Phone number: +373 22 240 056

Rating: 4.7/5, 2130 Google reviews