Natural History Museum

The Natural History Museum is specialized for conservation and presentation of movable cultural natural heritage, and its activities are a tight network of cultural, scientific and educational work. Collecting and preservation of natural objects acquire their full value and fulfill their purpose only after the study and scientific valorization; after that the objects may also fulfill their cultural-educational role. This is the only Museum of this type in Serbia and the largest natural history museum in SE Europe according to richness and diversity of collections and acquired knowledge and experience. The Natural History Museum is now in its second century and it belongs to a small group of oldest national institutions of culture and science in Serbia. In some other parts of the world, where the similar institutions are several centuries old, the continuity of just above 100 years is not worth mentioning. At the Balkans, the center of many wars, destruction and tremors, this means an old age. Under the name Jestastveni?ki Muzej (Natural Science Museum) it was established on December 19th, 1895. During its history it changed names (1903-1958: Museum of Serbian Land, Natural History Museum of Serbian Land) and territorial jurisdiction, but its main mission remained the same. Since the first day the Museum is an institution where not just material evidence (objects in the collections) on richness, complexity and diversity of nature of Serbia and Balkan Peninsula, but also data, documents, photographs, books and journals on nature, are collected, studied and permanently preserved. However, the region of greatest and most significant activities of the Museum is the territory of Serbia, and in need of understanding the individual natural processes, also the neighboring countries and adjacent areas. Therefore the Natural History Museum also hosts collections of regional and subcontinental importance (especially from Bulgaria, Albania and Greece). As until 1991 the Natural History Museum in Belgrade was the most active natural history museum in all Yugoslav states, its collections are rich with specimens from Slovenia, Croatia, Dalmatia, Bosnia & Hercegovina and Macedonia. The absence of a natural history museum in Montenegro until 1996 necessitated the more intensive inclusion of Montenegrin territory in studies by Natural History Museum in Belgrade. After the start with only about 5000 specimens, today the Museum has almost two million geological and biological museum specimens distributed in 116 larger and smaller collections. Each specimen and collection is important, but the largest in size and scope are Mineralogical and Petrologic Collection, Paleontological Collection, General Herbarium of Balkan Peninsula, Mollusk Collection, Entomological Collection and Collection of Vertebrates. There is an amazing significance in several hundred holotypes, which are the specimens used to describe types of minerals and rocks, as well as living and fossilized plants and animals taxa new to science. Specimens of plant and animal species now extinct in Serbia, but preserved in the Museum’s collections testify on the continuous changes happening in the nature of these areas. Today the total number of processed objects is estimated at over 1,300,000. The precise specification is impossible for several reasons. Depending on the organization of collection, the documentation units are variously defined so for example in the Herbarium the unit is a herbarium sheet that may include more than one specimen. About 400,000 objects added en masse to the entry book (collectors’ book) are impossible to sort and put to inventory due to lack of space, while about 100,000 objects are not in inventory as in our country there are no specialists who could perform the competent identification. Only nine years after the establishment, the Jestastveni?ki Muzej (as Natural History Museum was called then) was ready to open its first exhibition on September 7th, 1904. During more than 100 years there were hundreds of large and small, study, thematic and event-based exhibitions. The Museum was eager to send its exhibitions throughout Serbia and former Yugoslavia, but also acted as a good host for exhibitions by other museums. In the spirit of deep interconnection of man and nature, the Museum does not limit itself only to natural history exhibitions. Numerous artists who express their sensibility through using nature as inspiration, or who used natural materials, showed their works in the series of exhibitions “Reflections of nature”. As the Natural History Museum still does not have the appropriate space for complex presentation of Serbian nature, it is forced to make it with the Gallery at Kalemegdan fortress. Therefore the curators from the Museum strive to make each exhibition attractive in that small space of limited possibilities, and that the essence of each of numerous nature themes is expressed in an interesting way., In addition to the exhibitions, the Museum organizes lectures, promotions, creative workshops, talk shops and seminars. Programs are often connected to the international manifestations, such as: Museum Night, Days of European Heritage, Biodiversity Day, Earth Day, Day of Ramsar Convention, Bat Night, etc. The International day of persons with disabilities (December 3rd) was recognized for the first time in 2005 with an exhibition “Let’s touch the nature”, adapted to the special needs of handicapped persons. The Gallery also includes Bazaar of Nature, offering various souvenirs made of natural material or with natural motifs, as well as objects taken directly from nature. Gallery also has a special entrance that enables a safe and easy approach to persons with special needs.