Description
The Natural History Museum was founded on 19 December, 1895 and is one of the oldest scientific and cultural institutions in Serbia. The museum is also the first specialized institution whose three main and inseparable activities are scientific study, protection and presentation of national natural heritage.
In the largest biological and geological collections in our country, there are more than two million valuable specimens and a lot of unique HOLOTYPES – standards by which newly discovered species were described for the first time. The collections of the Natural History Museum contain objects in the 4.5 billion year time span, ranging from meteorites from the time of formation of the solar system, hundreds of millions of years old fossils, to specimens of Serbian spruce and Ramonda serbica. The museum is the only one of its kind in Serbia.
Rtanjska metvica (Nepeta rtanjensis)
On the basis of the specimens found by Bojana Milojević in 1974, this species was determined as a new one for science by Nikola Diklić, the curator of the Natural History Museum. This discovery is exceptional, the plant is endemic and of a relict character, it grows only on the mountain Rtanj. The first specimens on the basis of which it is described are kept in the Natural History Museum.
Extinct crooked horned antelope (Hypsodontus serbicus)
During a 1969 excavation in Prebreza, experts from the Natural History Museum found a fossilized skull of a hitherto unknown species of extinct antelope. The finding is extremely significant, this new species was found for the first time on the territory of Serbia. The specimens on the basis of which it is described are kept in the Natural History Museum.
Jarandolite mineral
The mineral was found by geologist Dobrica Stojanović in the vicinity of Baljevac on the Ibar and described in 1992. He donated a few samples to the Natural History Museum. He suggested the name srbijanit, which was not accepted. A Russian team which did some research in the same area proposed the name jarandolite for the newly discovered mineral, which was officially adopted in 2004. It belongs to the group of rare boron minerals
The last bear of Jastrebac mountain (Ursus arctos)
It was shot in 1885 by King Milan I Obrenović. The taxidermy preparation was made by the Viennese imperial preparator Eduard Hodek. It was placed in the hall of the Old Palace of the dynasty and was silent witness of the May Coup. It has been preserved thanks to Queen Natalija and was exhibited in the Museum of Forestry and Hunting. Today it is kept in the Natural History Museum. It represents a cultural heritage of exceptional importance.
Expert collaboration: Boris Ivančević, PhD, Milan Paunović, PhD, Marjan Niketić, PhD, Sanja Alaburić, Aleksandar Luković, Natural History Museum in Belgrade
Artistic realization of the issue: Miroslav Nikolić
