2022 - The European Year for Greener Cities

Exhibition: 2022 - The European Year for Greener Cities 

Location: Natural History Museum in Sibiu, Multimedia Room

Duration: 15 July – 15 September 2022

Curators: Dr. Nicolae Trif, Ana-Maria Păpureanu, Dr. Ghizela Vonica.

Text from the curators: 

On 17 September 2020, the European Parliament proposed that 2022 should be declared the "The European Year for Greener Cities".

The aim is to make urban environments greener and to raise awareness of green spaces benefits in an urban environment. These include not only environmental advantages, but also health, cultural and educational uses.

The Museum of Natural History in Sibiu, through its collections, contributes to the shaping of the past fauna and flora from the city of Sibiu, and of Romania. Through its collections, our museum preserves the natural values that can be found in the country.

The exhibition will include specimens collected, over time, from local fauna and flora, natural cultural values that must be protected in situ for future generations.

Visitors will be able to see the skull of a woolly rhinoceros discovered in Sibiu County, a species that disappeared during the last glacial period, 12,000 - 10,000 years ago.

Boxes of mollusc specimens from Romania belonging to one of the most valuable and complete collections of this type in the country, namely the Bielz Malacological collection, will be displayed. The Bielz collection includes over 200,000 specimens. Specimens belonging to three species naive of our country described for the first time worldwide by Michael Bielz (1787 - 1866) and Eduard Albert Bielz (1827 - 1898) in 1851, 1853 and 1860 will be exhibited.

In the exhibition will be displayed birds images by the photographers Mircea Radu Achim (1980-2018) and Marian Huc (1976-2018), images found in museum custody. In a green city, birds are part of our daily lives; they light up our mornings and delight us in parks with their colourful trills.