Museum of Natural History, Belgrade
| Established | 19 December 1895 |
|---|---|
| Location | Belgrade, Serbia |
| Collection size | 2 000 000 |
| Director | Mr. Slavko Spasic |
| Website | www.nhmbeo.org.yu |
Natural History Museum (Serbian: Природњачки музеј / Prirodnjački muzej) is one of the oldest specialized national institutions in Serbia. In fact, it is the only museum of this type in Serbia. By the richness and diversity of the exhibited species, as well as the results achieved in the domain of museology and science, this museum is one of the most important in the South-Eastern Europe. It was officially founded in 1895, registered as The Natural History Museum of Serbian Land at that time (Јестаственички музеј српске земље.
Prior to the foundation of the Museum, in the first half of the 19th century, in the former Principality of Serbia, there was a large number of natural history collections, predominantly kept in the Natural History Cabinet of the Great Lyceum (Great School). The museum was initially located at an Endowment house of Stevče Mihajlovic on the Vracar (central municipality of Belgrade).
Josif Pancic is considered to be the founder of the Natural History Museum who, accompanied by the group of his associates and students, systematically collected, studied and extracted specimens from nature to be exhibited. He was the first president of the Serbian Royal Academy and the Great Lyceum professor. Thoroughly investigating the flora of Serbia during his era, he has discovered and described about 50, even nowadays scientifically valid, plant species (Picea omorica, Ramonda sebica, Eryngium serbicum, Centaurea derventana and others).
The first Museum exhibition was held in 1904 in Belgrade, in the presence of King Peter I and his officials, with the first guest presentation of the naturalist items abroad being held in the same year, an important contribution to the World Exhibition in Paris. The first manager of the Museum was the academician Petar Pavlovic, a geologist and a lecturer at the Great Lyceum.
Natural history collections, from as early as 1939 up until the present day, have been preserved in a temporary space in the former building of the very First Female Gymnasium in Njegoseva Street, 51, Belgrade. Museum collections house documents regarding the natural history not only of Serbia, but also the neighboring Balkan regions, showing their development, from ancient times till today. Examples of plant species and animals are kept in the museum, flora and fauna which no longer can be found on the terrains of Serbia because, due to human influence, they have disappeared or migrated to other areas. The collections contain several thousand holotypes and unique specimens of minerals, rocks, plant and zoological species.
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