The object of the month at the Victor Babeș Museum
The Victor Babeș Museum was built around the memory of the scientist by his son, Mircea Babeș. The latter collected his father’s belongings from the apartment he used at the National Institute of Pathology and Bacteriology, and exhibited them on the ground floor of his house, which he donated to the Bucharest City Hall. The museum is located in a villa built in the eclectic style specific to the 1920s, in the northern part of the Capital. Originally built to be used as a private home in a quiet neighborhood, today the villa houses a collection consisting mainly of the scientific works of Victor Babeș ‒ Bacteria and Their Role in Etiology, Anatomy and Pathological Histology of Infectious Diseases (1885), Studies on Pellagra, Research on Bacterial Associations of Tuberculosis Bacilli (1888), On the Transmission of Immunizing Properties Through the Blood of Immunized Animals (1895), Report on Rabies (1912) and General Pathological Anatomy (1921). The recognition of Victor Babeș by his contemporaries is demonstrated by the large number of decorations and honorary orders the scientist received during his life. In the collection there are a series of decorations such as the National Order of Civil Merit in the rank of Commander (1891) of the Bulgarian state, the Legion of Honor Order in the rank of Commander, the Legion of Honor in the rank of Officer, the Order Star of Romania, the order Crown of Romania, the Civil Sanitary Order in the rank of Commander (Bulgaria), the Legion of Honor Order (France), Bene Merenti and the Iron Crown Order (Austria). The collection is completed by a series of pieces of furniture and decoration that the Babeș family owned until the moment of donation. Thus, European art pieces prevail, from chairs and armchairs to reproductions of 17th century paintings.
The project we propose will develop between February and December 2021 and aims to present an object part of the Victor Babeș Museum patrimony, monthly.
The objects you will find details about in the exhibition project are: Bust of Alma (Alma was the sister of Victor Babeș, who died of tuberculosis at an early age and who motivated him to become a researcher in the medical field), doctoral diploma of Victor Babeș – we will consider the path that the doctor traveled to obtain a doctor’s degree; the microscope he worked on throughout his life; The Album of the Institute of Bacteriology from the collection of the Victor Babeș Museum (an important element, because visitors can have access to the images, accompanied by explanations, of the Institute of Bacteriology that Victor Babeș set up); Legion of Honor Decoration (we will consider the context in which Victor Babeș received this decoration); The General Pathological Anatomy Textbook, written by Victor Babeș, mortuary mask, Murano lamp, Sevres table, samovar, butterfly – objects that accompanied Victor Babeș both in his professional and personal life.