Just 3 km north of the Old City Centre in Bucharest is the museum precinct. Here you’ll discover that some of the top things to do in Bucharest are in fact museums. There’s the Natural History Museum, Geology Museum, and a Romanian Peasant Museum. We took a trip to the Natural History Museum and were completely blown away with what we found.
Top Things To Do In Bucharest are Museums
We’ve been to loads of museums around the world. Our son just loves science, and we take him to many museums to satisfy his insatiable curiosity. We have been to a few natural history museum, and this one is the best one we’ve been to. The displays are pure quality, and the range is outstanding.
If you have children and you’re visiting Bucharest then I urge you to consider this museum as one of your more interesting things to do in Bucharest. In fact, we rated this the second best attraction after the Palace of the Parliament. Your kids will be so happy, and it’s a nice distraction from the usual communist landmarks that are the normal sightseeing things to see in Bucharest.
As usual you need to pay the entry fee, which is a mere 20 Romanian Lei for adults and 10 Lei for children. This is remarkably cheap as far as museums go. Actually the entrance fee had me worried, making me think it might be museum with sub-standard or run down displays. But what we found next blew our minds.
Entering the Natural History Museum
As you enter the museum you head down to the basement to start with. This is full of stuffed animals of the marine variety, and you get to see fish, sharks and all sorts of little creatures from all across the world. Each display is set up for a particular area of the oceans.
After you’re finished in the basement and head up to the ground floor, and are treated to 2 and 4 legged displays. Once again these are grouped into different countries or regions of the world. For example a Papua New Guinea display is full of a variety of stuffed animals and birds from Madagascar, in a very realistic diorama of the habitat found in that country. The displays are amazingly lifelike, for of course they are showing real stuffed animals.
As you head up to the next level you start getting into the bigger wild animals, like moose and deer. There’s also a fantastic display of fossils and prehistoric life which is set up in a giant cave like room. As a centerpiece there’s a huge atrium with giant skeletons of extinct elephant like creatures called deinotherium.
Finding All the Bugs
There also is a giant insect section which focuses on diversity of insects. This is huge collection exhibiting a dazzling selection of inspect and arachnid specimens to freak out over. There’s a really interesting section on social insects like wasps and bees, and realistic displays depicting how they work together.
As you head up to the top floor you make it into the human section, and see different human indigenous races and dioramas in their natural settings. This floor is very educational for kids and adults alike, for it also shows cutaway sections of all parts of the human body, and some outstanding displays what show how humans work. It is a great anatomy lesson for all to enjoy.
There are also some great displays of unusual micro-biological organisms like germs, bacteria‘s and DNA. Once again there are some great lessons on how cells work as well as germs, bacteria and DNA. As well as big information boards there are many three-dimensional models to explain each topic in the utmost detail.
Covering the Planet
Overall you will be awestruck with this museum. It seems to cover every habitat on the planet at some point. And it also seems to cover every aspect of human genealogy and biology and a child friendly manner. The level of detail in the displays is simply breathtaking.
There is no way you can see this museum in less than two hours, and you probably should allow 3 to 4 hours to do it justice. One thing lacking is a café, but don’t worry there’s a Starbucks and probably lots of other cafés just around the corner.
The souvenir shop was also quite lacking, full of educational kids toys, but very little in the way of souvenirs showing the name of the museum. But they do have lots of interesting rock samples and insect specimens for sale.
Bucharest Natural History Museum Rating
If you have kids who love science this museum is not to be missed. My 11-year-old son rated it 10 out of 10. He says “ This museum is magnificent and great, and I think is the best museum I’ve ever been to in my life”. Fair call.
I rated it 9.5 out of 10, only because it was lacking a café, and I kind of felt like a cuppa after our long walk through the museum. So put this fascinating museum on your list of things to do in Bucharest.
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