A FREE GUIDED TOUR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

A FREE GUIDED TOUR OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF ETHNOGRAPHY AND NATURAL HISTORY OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA

When: Saturday, April 30, 2016, at 10 a.m.
Where: 82 M. Kogălniceanu Street, Chișinău

Dear members of the TOEFL in Moldova group!

This Saturday (on April 30), Terra Nova English Language Center is organizing a free guided English-language tour of the Museum of Ethnography and Natural History of the Republic of Moldova (located at 82 Kogalniceanu Street) for current students of Terra Nova English Language Center, members of the TOEFL in Moldova group, and for Moldovan students and teachers of English. The tour will begin at 10 a.m. If you want to join the tour, please add a comment to this post. You may bring your friends! The tour is free of charge! Use this unique opportunity to visit the best museum in our country!

Information Note:

The National Museum of Ethnography and Natural History of the Republic of Moldova is the largest, the oldest, and the most visited museum in the country. Based on the latest attendance figures, around 50,000 people visit the Museum every year. In 1998, the Museum was nominated for the European Museum of the Year Award, the longest running and most prestigious museum award in Europe, presented each year by the European Museum Forum under the auspices of the Council of Europe.

The Museum was established in October 1889. Among the founders of the Museum were Alexander Stuart, a member of the Basarabian Provincial Zemstvo (Council) with a master’s degree in zoology, and Franț Osterman, an amateur hunter and the first Museum curator. In the beginning, the Museum was called the Agricultural Museum of Basarabia and most of its collection was devoted to agriculture. In 1903-1905, a new building for the Museum designed by the local architect Vladimir Țiganco was constructed in the pseudo-Mauritanian style and the Museum was renamed the Zoological, Agricultural, and Handicraft Museum of Basarabia. Since then, the Museum has been the main Moldovan institution housing rare ecological, botanical, zoological, anatomical, petrographical, paleontological, pedological, archeological, historical, and ethnographic collections.

The Museum hosts more than 135,000 museum items. Since 1906, the Museum has been sheltering the Botanical Garden representing the local flora. More than 50 curators, librarians, restorers, conservators, tour guides, designers, and other specialists make up the Museum staff.

The Museum offers highlight tours in Romanian, Russian, and English. Regular Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. The Museum is closed on Mondays and Moldovan national holidays.

Should you have any questions about the tour or the museum, please call 079581561.