The Mineralogy & Petrography Collection “Grigore Cobălcescu”

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Timeline

1. 1862

   The birth of Romanian geology

   Back from his studies (1861), Grigore Cobălcescu was entrusted by the Ministry of Education with the first geological surveys in Moldavia. As a result, in 1862 he published Calcariul de la Răpidea (The Limestone of Repedea), the founding document of Romanian geology and the first geological work written in Romanian.

   

2. 16 October 1863

   Beginnings

   Grigore Cobălcescu was appointed professor of geology and comparative anatomy in the Exact Sciences section of the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Iași (today Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași), founded on 26 October 1860.

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   Knowing how much teaching material the geological and mineralogical disciplines required, Grigore Cobălcescu began collecting samples of minerals, rocks and fossils himself. They came from various geological formations across the country and served both research and teaching.

   

3. 1865

   The first Chair of Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology

   In 1865 the Chair of Natural Sciences was split in two: Zoology–Botany and Geology–Mineralogy–Palaeontology.

   With the founding of the country’s first Chair of Geology, Mineralogy and Palaeontology, led by Grigore Cobălcescu, Romanian geology became an established academic discipline.

   

4. 1888

   The first complete collections

   Realising that a complete, competitive collection could not be built only from samples he had collected himself or obtained now and then through exchanges with foreign specialists, Grigore Cobălcescu secured from the Ministry of Education, in early 1888, the sum of 30,000 lei (a very large amount at the time) to buy one of the five complete collections offered by the German firm F. Krantz. It comprised about 9,000 minerals, rocks and fossils.

   This makes it one of the oldest mineral collections in the world:

   1. 1716Fersman, Saint Petersburg (moved to Moscow in 1934)
   2. 1723–1730Grünes Gewölbe, Dresden, Germany
   3. 1745MNHN — National Museum of Natural History, Paris, France
   4. 1766Bergakademie Sammlungen, Freiberg, Germany
   5. 1784Teylers Museum, Haarlem, the Netherlands
   6. 1818NM — National Museum, Prague
   7. 1869AMNH — American Museum of Natural History, New York
   8. 1881NHM — Natural History Museum, London
   9. 1888“Grigore Cobălcescu” Mineralogy Museum, Iași, Romania
   10. 1889NHM — Natural History Museum, Vienna
   11. 1910Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington

   

   

5. 1891

   The first display cases

   Geology was taught in wholly inadequate rooms in the former princely residence of Prince Moruzi on Universității Street no. 16, which also housed the university’s other faculties. There was nowhere to display the material acquired at such great sacrifice.

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   At first, a small part of the collection was stored, still packed in its shipping crates, in the geology cabinet, while the rest was kept at the Military School of Iași, where Grigore Cobălcescu had taught for many years. After repeated requests, a private building at Golia Street (today Cuza Vodă) no. 67, owned by Maria David Ferber, was rented for the Geology Cabinet in 1891. Besides laboratories, lecture rooms and a director’s office, it offered a reasonable space for displaying the geology and mineralogy collections. Special display cases were needed but did not exist; once again, after much insistence, funds were obtained to build modern cases in which the material could be displayed and preserved in the best conditions.

   

6. 1896

   A new home and a divided collection

   Alongside Grigore Cobălcescu, the Geology Cabinet employed Sava Athanasiu as a laboratory assistant from 1888 (while still a final-year student) and, from 1891, Romulus Sevastos as assistant and museum curator. Both contributed substantially to cataloguing and arranging the collection. The first inventory register, compiled by Sava Athanasiu, survives to this day. The work was supervised by Prof. Grigore Cobălcescu, who, although gravely ill, came to the laboratory every day to oversee it. Sorting the roughly 9,000 exhibits was painstaking: each sample’s name was written in German and had to be translated into Romanian, then labelled, numbered and entered in the register.

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   Despite the assistants’ efforts, by 21 May 1892, when Grigore Cobălcescu died in the laboratory at his desk, only a few cases had been arranged — the man who had made sacrifices for the collection, even contributing his own money, never saw it fully displayed. Identification and cataloguing were still under way in 1896, when the Geology and Mineralogy Cabinet, with all its equipment and collections, moved to today’s Building A of the University at Carol I Street no. 11, which offered excellent conditions for teaching and research as well as purpose-built rooms for displaying, storing and preserving minerals, rocks and fossils.

   After Cobălcescu’s death, the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy, founded in 1863, was split in two: Mineralogy–Petrography, led by Prof. Vasile C. Buțureanu, and Palaeontology–Stratigraphy, taught by zoology professor Paul Bujor (1862–1952) until 28 November 1900, when Ion Simionescu was appointed acting professor; he became associate professor in 1902 and, from 15 March 1905, full professor and head of the chair.

   Splitting the chair also split the collection: one part became a collection of minerals and endogenous rocks, the other a collection of animal and plant fossils. Over the years, both received spacious, well-lit rooms and new furniture for displaying the Krantz material, which was continually enriched with specimens from Romania.

   

7. 1896–1960

   The collections of minerals, ores and endogenous rocks

   The collections were assigned to the new Chair of Mineralogy and Petrography, looked after by Prof. V. C. Buțureanu from his appointment (1892) until his retirement (1936). He studied the collection in detail, arranged it according to his own classification, catalogued it, wrote the inventory register himself and added minerals and rocks from his personal collection.

   Soon after his appointment, Professor Buțureanu and his colleagues began unpacking the Krantz exhibits, and in 1903 the Mineralogy laboratory and its collection of minerals and rocks were visited by Prince Ferdinand, heir to the Romanian throne.

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   The inventory register written by Prof. Vasile C. Buțureanu still survives, continued over the years by other members of staff. A new register, still in use today, was started in early 1960. Buțureanu’s register lists 2,827 mineral samples and 1,653 rocks. The actual number of samples is far higher, as many exist in several specimens and only one was counted for each entry.

   The chair’s holdings (instruments, furniture, collection, library), gathered through years of hard work and sacrifice, suffered significant losses during the Second World War, when they were evacuated to Alba Iulia and Zlatna.

   

   

   

8. 1963

   A new home: Building B

   In 1963, when the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Geography moved into the University’s new building for biology, geography and geology (Building B), the Chair of Geology and Mineralogy received the entire second floor: lecture and practical rooms, an amphitheatre, laboratories, collection rooms and offices. Three interconnected rooms of different sizes were designed for the mineralogy and petrography collection, fitted with metal-and-glass display cases designed by Assoc. Prof. Traian Idriceanu and built by a specialised company in Rădăuți (the old wooden cases were retired).

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   This opened a new chapter in the organisation, display and preservation of all the mineralogical and petrographic material gathered over more than 100 years of geology teaching at the University of Iași.

   

   

9. 1990 – today

   Today

   1990 marked a new beginning for geology teaching in Iași, in both growth and organisation. Today the Faculty of Geography and Geology comprises the Department of Geography and the Department of Geology. The former chairs of Geology–Palaeontology and Mineralogy–Geochemistry were merged into the Department of Geology, which trains students at every level of university study.

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   The bachelor’s programme covers two fields, each with one specialisation: Geological Engineering and Geology (Geochemistry). At master’s level, students can choose Well-site and Environmental Geology or Environmental Geochemistry. Doctoral studies are offered in Geology.