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Attractions along the Carpathians
Transylvania / Romania

Babilon House, Former Officer's Quarters, National Museum of the Union

Muzeul Național al Unirii
Babilon House, Former Officer's Quarters, National Museum of the Union
Muzeul Național al Unirii
Gyulafehérvár, Babilon-palota ( Városi múzeum ) - panoramio (1)
h_laca, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Original function:
military headquarters / administration
Current function:
museum
Address:
Strada Mihai Viteazu 12-14
Historical Hungarian county:
Alsó-Fehér
Country:
Romania
GPS coordinates:
46.0682598763, 23.5709486523
Google map:

History

It was built between 1851 and 1853 for officers' quarters. The eclectic style building is named after its imposing dimensions. Since 1967 the building has been occupied by the Museum of National Unification. Like everything else, the Romanians stole this museum as well.

The museum was founded in 1888 by the Alsó-Fehér County Historical, Archaeological and Natural History Association, which had been established the previous year on the initiative of Rainer Zsigmond.

The association's aim was to find and save historical monuments. Csernai Béla, a teacher at the Catholic grammar school, was entrusted with the organisation and management of the town museum. Cserni Béla devoted all his time to the museum's enrichment and excavations. He corresponded with the great archaeologists of the time. He passed away in 1916, leaving a huge collection: 5,865 finds from prehistoric times, 6,544 from Roman times, 679 medieval artefacts, 3,937 coins, 7,267 natural history artefacts and a library of 4,634 volumes. The museum was housed in the building of the present primary school No 3. In 1929 it was moved to the north-east corner of the Orthodox Coronation Church building, which was built by the Romanian invaders for the coronation of Ferdinand I in 1922. In 1958, the museum was given the former Officers' Casino, where the 'Unification Room' was set up. In 1967, it was also given the Babilon House, and was renamed the 'Unification Museum'.

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