"Stefan Procopiu" Science and Technique Museum

"Stefan Procopiu" Science and Technique Museum within "Moldova" National Museum Complex of Iasi

In the rooms at the ground floor of the Palace of Culture in Iaşi, on the eastern side of the building, “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum proudly exhibits its particularly valuable heritage.   

The Polytechnical Museum, as it was known to the general public until 3 August 1994, adopted the name of “Stefan Procopiu” Science and Technique Museum as a recognition of the values of the scientists in Iasi.

The core of the Museum was set up already in 1955, following the initiative of an enthusiastic group of professors and engineers of Iasi, and among them mention should be made of acad. Cristofor Simionescu, eng. Marcel Itcovici and univ. prof. PhD. Ioan Curievici, who closely surveyed the evolution of the Museum, while searching and finding out new sources of increasing the patrimony, of augmenting the collections of great scientific and documentary value.

The first section of the Museum was “Energetics”, inaugurated on 1 March 1961 and reorganized in 1980. Nowadays it presents to the general public the main forms of energy used by mankind along the centuries and points out by graphic panels and original exhibits exceptional contributions of Romanian and worldwide personalities to the development of the energetic field.

An important moment in the evolution of the Museum was the setting up and inauguration in February 1966 of the section “Sound Recording and Playback”. The enrichment of the collection, during the years that followed, as well as the interest shown by the visitors for the above exhibition, led to the restructuring and extension of the section on a threefold space, inaugurated in 1972. A unique collection within Romania, the “Sound Recording and Playback” section presents chronologically the evolution of sound recording and playback from the pin reel to the magnetic tape.

Along the years, as a result of the efforts of scientific investigation carried out by the team of professionals of the Museum, as well as of the identification and acquisition of the heritage, new museum sections were opened, such as: „Telecommunications” (1984), “Poni-Cernatescu” Memorial Museum (1991),  “Mineralogy-Cristalography” (1997) and "Computers" (2004).

The “Telecommunications” section presents to the visitors a series of original exhibits which point out the historical evolution of the systems meant to transmit information at a distance, and it is structured in four sectors: telegraphy, telephony, radio, television.

One of the most recent section, “Mineralogy-Cristalography”, hosts an interesting collecting of “mine flowers” donated by Mr. Constantin Gruescu, from Ocna de Fier (Caras-Severin co.) and which consists in 126 samples of the polymetallic ores, iron oxides and hydroxides (hematite, magnetite, lemonite), as well as various types of quartz (from the rock quartz to the Japanese macle).

The most recent section of the museum is entitled "Computers" and mainly illustrates the evolution of these devices during the second half of the 20^th century.

Apart the sections structuring the permanent exhibitions, the Museum heritage also includes some other collections, presented in temporary exhibitions, such as: calculation machines, typing machines, photo cameras, weather forcasting instruments, as well as a platform with items specific to the field of industrial archaeology.