In the spring of 1890 the Transylvanian Society for Natural Sciences in Sibiu (Siebenbürghische Verein für Naturwissenschaften zu Hermannstadt), established in 1849, approached the issue of a building to shelter the collections. They asked for credits, public contributions and subscriptions, and in 1894 the building was ready. It is a construction bearing neo-Renaissance elements, designed by the Mediaş architect Franz Maetz. Although small-sized, it gives an impression of monumentality. It stands on three storeys (semi-basement, ground floor and upper floor and originally had 16 rooms. The building never housed any other institution but the museum. There never was any origina...l collection, but a heterogeneous gathering of natural history items that lay the foundation for the subsequent great theme collections. Currently, the most important heritage divisions are the following: mineralogy, petrography, palaeontology, botany, zoology, documentary material (pictures, photographs, slides, documentary graphics). The entire project of the permanent exhibition inaugurated in December 2007 is meant to take into a good account the extent patrimony from a scientific, chronological and esthetical perspective. As elements of novelty in the fashion of presentation, there are the tri-dimensional displaying through the means of dioramas and the sounding and illumination systems suggesting a night and day cycle in each described environment, all conferring to the exhibition a dynamic atmosphere, inducing the visitor an empathic approach to the condition of an explorer. In the first part of the exhibition is presented a succinct evolution of the live world, from the simplest organisms to the birds, starting with the invertebrates populating the aquatic environment, in seas and oceans, as jellyfishes, worms, corals, shellfishes and continuing with insects, fishes and reptiles, some of them having a frightening appearance, some of them impressing through their shapes and colours. The presentation of the birds is introduced by the ratite species (the ostrich, nandu and emu), considered to be curiosities of nature. A special part is the one presenting the aquatic birds in a context that reproduces the Danube Delta environment, comprising features of fauna and vegetation as well. The vegetation aspect is illustrated through authentic wood elements as conserved tree trunks. Apart from this expositional space, a slide shore is showed, populated as it is with the species of birds that are characteristic for this particular environment. The middle sector of the exhibition shows aspects in the life of the birds, especially the ones living in trees, from the small species to the large, diurnal or nocturnal birds of prey. The temperate zone is illustrated through all landforms (from the plane to the alpine heights), each of them populated by their specific fauna and flora. It is the sector where a complete image of birds, mammals and invertebrates is to be seen. Among them there are carnivore animals as the wolf and fox, the bear being along them as well. The tropical forest is illustrated by the numerous parrots and exotic butterflies, which impress the viewer through their richness of colours and shapes. The features of the most exotic areas on Earth are shown through the abundance of floristic elements, the climatic conditions being favourable for the development of luxuriant vegetation. The artic zone presents a seal, an animal which is representative for this particular area; it is an item of a historical importance as well, being one of the oldest pieces in the Museum’s collections. There is also a Snowy Owl (Nyctea scandiaca), considered to be the largest and the strongest among the owl species. The last diorama of this sector illustrates the diversity of the Australian continent. As a consequence of its geographical isolation from the rest of the continents, Australian fauna contains an impressive variety of endemic animals, a large part of the amphibians presented in exhibition populating only the Australian continent. Among the exhibited species there are the Koala, Sugar Glider, Squirrel Glider, Lyrebird, other Australian birds and several species of insects, all meant to impress the viewer. The palaeontological items in the permanent exhibition are a good opportunity for a reconstitution attempt. It could seem odd today that the animals adapted for a cold climate, as the mammoth and the woolly rhinoceros, had dwelled on hills around Sibiu. Their bonny remains are in the possession of the Museum through the effort of one of the founders of the Transylvanian Society for Natural Sciences. Flanking the flight of stairs, the Mineralogical Sector is arranged in accordance with aesthetic criteria, displaying native minerals as gold, copper, decorative stones, semi-precious stones, rough minerals and minerals discovered for the first time in Romania as tellurate, krenerite, rhodochrosite.