The National Museum of Natural History “Grigore Antipa” attracted 503,934 visitors in 2025 through the activities and events it organized: 328,402 visitors to the permanent exhibition; 58,073 participants in 60 educational projects, totaling 846 activities; 117,459 visitors to three major temporary exhibitions; and 6,550 visitors with special needs.

Budget

In 2025, the museum received 6,143,000 lei in state budget subsidies. The total budget, supplemented by own-source revenues, amounted to 14,418,720 lei. In practice, for every 1 leu received from the state budget, an additional 1.34 lei was generated from own revenues.
“Own-source revenues are extremely important to us, as the state subsidy covered only 90% of salary expenses and just two months of the museum’s day-to-day operations,” the institution stated in a press release.

Accessibility

“In 2025, we continued our inclusive accessibility programs dedicated to people with special needs, with a focus on creating a safe, welcoming environment adapted to the diversity of our audiences. By organizing 51 editions of the ‘Quiet Hours’ program for people with sensory impairments and neurodiverse visitors, as well as 32 ‘Discover’ workshops for children and young people with special educational needs, we recorded an increase in the total number of participants, including by attracting new beneficiaries with special educational needs,” according to the museum.

Museum experience

“Antipa Acoustic” – the museum you listen to, not just look at – transforms a museum visit into a multisensory journey. Through a high-performance audio system and an interactive web application, visitors can listen to 10 soundscapes featuring authentic sounds of nature: birdsong, mammal calls, the rustling of leaves, cracking ice, the roar of the sea, or the march of the bear.

Scientific research

In 2025, the research team of the National Museum of Natural History “Grigore Antipa” carried out research and heritage development activities within the multiannual program “Assessment of the taxonomic and genetic diversity of national and global fauna.”

The museum also accessed extra-budgetary funding, with approval granted for the European project “Enhancing knowledge of biodiversity through the implementation of a monitoring system for the conservation status of species and habitats of community interest in Romania” (PDD 2021–2027), carried out in partnership with six institutions. Within this project, the museum is responsible for monitoring invertebrate animal species.

Additionally, Volume 68 (issues 1 and 2) of the journal Travaux du Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle Grigore Antipa was published, featuring a series of scientific papers that support the valorization of the museum’s collections and the advancement of knowledge on national and global biodiversity.

Scientific collections

The National Museum of Natural History “Grigore Antipa” manages a diverse and valuable scientific heritage, preserving part of Romania’s and the world’s biodiversity and representing the most important source of documentation for zoological research in Romania. At the end of 2025, the museum’s collections comprised 1,882,155 specimens/samples.

During 2025, 76,059 specimens were added to the scientific collections as a result of research conducted by specialists, enriching both invertebrate and vertebrate collections.

That same year, through the acquisition of the lepidoptera collection of engineer Marin Goia, the museum’s scientific heritage was further expanded by 30,200 specimens. The importance of this collection lies in both its scientific and documentary value: over 90% of the specimens are identified and organized by genera and subfamilies, and a significant number belong to species that are currently protected, rare, or very rare in Romania.

Written by News.ro