The “Emil Racoviţă” Speleology Museum was established in 1998, and it is the only museum in Romania dedicated to the scientist Emil Racoviţă and to the cave science. Emil Racoviţă is the founder of biospeleology and of the first Speleology institute in the world, which was opened in Cluj-Napoca in 1920. The results of the biospeleology program initiated by E. Racoviţă were exceptional: 1,200 explored caves throughout Europe and Africa, a collection of 50,000 copies of cave fauna, 66 scientific studies adding up to approximately 6,000 pages. Racoviţă reached the peak of his scientific career when he elaborated an original theory regarding the evolution.
The museum also includes The Emil Racoviţă Collection with numerous varied exhibition pieces like: a notebook from the period when Racoviţă was a student at the Paris-Sorbonne University (1886-1891), the Zeiss microscope and the Lihnof photo device which he used in his “Belgica” Antarctic expedition (1897-1899), the projector and slides he used when teaching his General Biology course at the Science University in Cluj, original drawings illustrated in his scientific works, personal desk objects.
The building in which the museum operates is an old medieval prison (from the 14th century up to the 19th century) and it is considered a national historical monument dating back to 1376.
Events:
The European Night of the Museums
The European Bat Night
Europe’s Day
Children’s Day
Educational projects
Exhibitions
Schedule
Currently closed for renovation.
Text preluat de pe visitclujnapoca.ro
