The beginnings of the History Museum in Cluj go back to 23rd September 1859, when the Society of the Transylvanian Museum was founded. In 1872 its antiquities, botanical, zoological and mineralogical collections were transferred to the patrimony of the newly-established University of Cluj. The museum opened to the public in 1933 in the current location, a building constructed in the early 19th century by Daniel Petrichevich-Horvath, the initiator of the Hungarian theatre activity in Cluj, exhibiting collections of antiquities, medieval and modern decorative art, a medieval lapidary, a Pinacoteca and an ethnographic collection. Starting with 1948, the History Museum was included in the Romanian Academy and in 1963 it became a self-governing institution.
Currently, the museum has a large heritage of 440,000 artefacts, illustrating the culture and history of Transylvania, from the Palaeolithic era to the modern day. The archaeological collections, covering a period between Prehistory and the Roman period as well as a part of the medieval history, are amongst the largest in the country. The Transylvanian history is also reflected by the stone objects collections, exhibited in the Roman and Medieval Lapidary.
The History Section, with its departments of medieval, modern and contemporary history, cares for collections of objects of decorative arts, weapons, ancient books, documents, engravings and various printings, memorabilia, dating from the 10th to the 20th centuries. The Numismatic Section features more than 100,000 coins and medals from antiquity up to modern days. The museum owns a remarkable Egyptian collection, including a sarcophagus and mummy from the Ptolemaic age, and other interesting objects representative for this ancient civilization.
We must inform you that our permanent exhibition is closed for renovation, but you can visit our temporary exhibitions. For further information visit www.mnit.ro.
The museum is open from Tuesday to Sunday, from 10 AM to 4 PM, except for Wednesday, when we open at noon and close a 6 PM. Temporary exhibitions ticket – 3 lei, half price for students and seniors.
THE PHARMACY COLLECTION
The museum is hosted by the oldest public pharmacy in Cluj, attested during the second half of the 16thcentury. The building is a historical monument, known as the Maucksch-Hintz House, after the name of Tobias Maucksch the first privileged pharmacist of Cluj who had initiated the decoration of the Officina and who wrote important apothecary manuscripts, and the name of the last family of pharmacists, Hintz.
In 1954, at the initiative of the professors of the Medicine and Pharmacy Faculty in town and based on several private donations of objects from the entire Transylvania, the Pharmacy Museum was opened in this location.
The museum reconstructs the atmosphere and the room structure of the old pharmacies: you are invited to descend into the lab to discover how drugs were actually prepared, to the Officina, the most decorated room where medicine was sold and to the Materials’ Room where the ingredients were stored.
You can see the famous Mummy Powder, sold for its weight in gold as a universal drug, but also bizarre ingredients of animal origin. You can also admire hand-painted bottles in which the Elixir of Love was once sold and you can find out the recipe for eternal love!
The museum is opened every day of the week from 10 AM to 4 PM, except for Thursday, when we open at noon and close a 6 PM. If you’d rather visit us during the weekend, you can do so on the last Saturday of each month – still from 10 AM to 4 PM (and the subsequent Monday the museum is closed).
Full-price ticket – 6 lei, half price for students and seniors – 3 lei, photo tax – 25 lei. For further information visit https://izi.travel/en/9236-the-history-of-pharmacy-collection/en
CONTACT
The National Museum of Transylvanian History
- Telephone: 0264595677
- Address: Str. Constantin Daicoviciu nr. 2, Cluj-Napoca
- E-mail: [email protected]
- Website: www.mnit.ro
The Pharmacy Collection
- Telephone: 0264 597 567
- Address: Piaţa Unirii, nr. 28, Cluj-Napoca
- E-mail: [email protected]
- Website (in Romanian):www.farmacluj.blogspot.ro
- Audio-guide: izi.travel/en/9236-the-history-of-pharmacy-collection/en
