The Babeş-Bolyai University Museum was founded at the rector’s office initiative in April 2001, with the purpose of putting forward the rich history of higher education in Cluj-Napoca which has been around for centuries, the activities of the professors and students who attended the various faculties, but especially the remarkable contributions of Transylvanian intellectuals to the cultural and universal knowledge patrimony.
Through its objective, the museum offers each student, but especially to future students, a synthetic perspective of what academic life was in the past and what it is nowadays, offers information about the university’s customs and the local history of Transylvania from 1581 up to the present.
Collections
Its collections currently contain over 750 original pieces and facsimiles (student mark cards, yearbooks, handbooks, documents, diplomas, postal cards, photos, various scientific devices, medals). With the help of these pieces, one can revive the history and activity of every college, faculty, and university that existed one after another in Cluj-Napoca, starting with the 16th century (when the Jesuit college, lead by monk Antonio Possevino, was created in 1581).
The museum is divided into two major areas:
-the permanent exhibition
-the museum’s reserve – accessible only to specialists, for research and documentation.
The first room in the museum hosts a small technical collection, consisting of old devices from the Physics, Chemistry and Biology Faculties, used along the centuries at applied research. Some of these devices are: Hilger spectrograph, monocular and binocular microscopes, oscilloscopes, radio signal generators.
A specific section of the museum is dedicated exclusively to grand personalities from the Cluj-Napoca universities who have had special contributions to the development of this institution and to science and world culture progress: Emil Racoviţă, Constantin Daicoviciu, Hermann Oberth, Lucian Blaga, Petre Sergescu, Augustin Maior, Eugen Speranţia, etc.
We can point out the photography collection – with about 500 clichés – that presents with the help of eloquent images decisive moments in the university life, especially from the period between wars (the royal family visits at the Cluj-Napoca University, first copies of Doctor Honoris Causa diploma granted by the Romanian University of Cluj-Napoca). Besides the photo collection we can also find bachelor’s degrees, doctor’s diplomas, and student report cards from the 19th century until the present date.
Lately, the museum has carried on an intense research activity in the university history field with the intention of becoming a centre for research and reference study in this domain.
Entry fee:
Adults: 2 RON
Students, senior citizens, disabled, military personnel: 1 RON
Babes-Bolyai University students: free
Schedule
Monday – Friday from 9.30 to 13.30 Saturday, Sunday: closed. We recommend scheduling visits in advance.
Text preluat de pe visitclujnapoca.ro
