History

1883-1888

The core of the original collection can be considered the fossil material that served as the basis for the first geological and paleontological monograph written in Romanian by a Romanian, Grigore Cobălcescu.

In the work, titled "Geological and Paleontological Studies on Certain Tertiary Terrains in Some Parts of Romania" and published in 1883 in the Geological Memoirs of the Military School of Iași, the author describes 100 fossil species from the Sarmatian and Pliocene periods.

Due to a lack of storage space at the University, the fossil material was kept at the Military School of Iași, where Cobălcescu had previously served as a professor.

1888-1916

In 1888, after long-term persistence, he obtained a suitable space at 67 Golia Street (the Maria David Ferber House). There, he relocated his mollusk collection and secured the necessary funds to purchase a geological collection from the German firm Krantz. Comprising approximately 9,000 samples of minerals, rocks, and fossils, this acquisition effectively laid the foundations for a proper museum of geology.