The early days of the National History Museum of Transylvania dates from the 19th century, more precisely from 1859, when the Transylvanian Museum Society was established. The Society systematically acquired collections of antiquities, botany, zoology and mineralogy, coins and medals etc. In 1856, Count Emeric Mikó, a Transylvanian man of culture, donated his villa and park for establishing the museum, which, in 1860, was endowed with a library of its own. In 1872, all these collections were included in the heritage of the newly founded Cluj University. In 1929, the Institute for Classical Studies took over the antiquities collection. The museum opened to the public on the current premi...ses in 1937, presenting to the visitors collections of antiquities, mediaeval and modern pottery, a mediaeval lapidarium, a painting gallery and an ethnographic collection. From 1948, the History Museum functioned within the Romanian Academy, the Cluj subsidiary, and in 1963, the museum became an independent institution. The museum is one of the most important in the country and owns large and important collections of archaeology - prehistoric, classical and mediaeval - history, coins and medals, clocks, lapidarium and others. Among them we mention the Uioara bronze hoard, Dacian pottery, iron tools and various finds discovered during the excavations of the Dacian fortresses from the Orăştie Mountains, the unique Dacian vessel bearing the inscription with the name of the most famous Dacian king "Decebalus per Scorilo", Roman inscriptions, funerary stones and sculptures; prints, engravings, mediaeval maps, weapons and documents from the Revolution of 1848. The museum owns goods listed in the National Cultural Heritage Treasure.