The
Mineralogy-Crystallography section was developed on the basis of the
collection donated by collector Constantin Gruescu of Ocna de Fier.
The collection includes 200 samples from Romania, from other European
countries (France, Switzerland, Germany, Hungary) as well as from
other continents: South America (Bresil) and Africa (Sahara).
It
is the second big collection of this kind offered to the city of Iasi,
the first such instance being the donation the Russian general Pavel
Kiselleff made to the Natural Science Museum. It should be mentioned
that the city of Iasi was the first in Romania to have a section of
geology, the initiative belonging to the university professor Gr.
Cobalcescu, author of the first geology treaty in Romania.
Mention
should also be made of Romania chemist Petru Poni’s interest
in mineralogy as he actually discovered two ores: adenite and brostenite.
The mineralogy of the region of Banat, as exhibited in the museum,
is unique by its particular shapes and the beauty of the iron ores.
There are iron components present as draperies, marcasite and pyrites.
Dognecei Mountains are situated in the northwestern part of Banat
Mountains, between Poganisului and Carasului Valleys, to the north
and south, respectively. In Banat Mountains, about 250 types of minerals
have been identified so far, while only in the area of Ocna de Fier,
Dognecea, their number exceeds 100. The collection of the museum includes
all these types of ores, as represented by samples of different shapes
and colours. It is worth mentioning the most beautiful andradite garnets,
of a yellow-brownish colour, the melanite garnets of rhomboid shapes,
crystalline muschitovite of the iron rose type. Sulphurets (pyrites,
marcasite, covelline, realgar, auropigment, stibine, blende, galena)
are as spectacular as well, and so are the quartz varieties whose
different colours (pink, violet, smoky grey, milky white) charm the
visitors’ eyes. are worth mentioning.
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