The George Severeanu Museum

The George Severeanu Museum is located in Bucharest, in a house built at the beginning of the 20th century and forms part of the Bucharest Municipality Museum.

Ion Puican, 08.03.2026, 14:00

The George Severeanu Museum is located in Bucharest, in a house built at the beginning of the 20th century and forms part of the Bucharest Municipality Museum. It houses the impressive collection of Dr. George Severeanu (1879-1939), one of the pioneers of radiology in Romania and a teacher at the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy. In addition to his medical career, he was a passionate collector of coins and archaeological artfiacts. He collected over 9,000 pieces, coins and ancient artifacts, which he donated to the Romanian state. George Severeanu was also the first director of the Bucharest Municipal Museum, which was officially inaugurated in 1931. The collection he donated is a valuable contribution to the cultural heritage of the city of Bucharest and Romania in general.

Vasile Opriș, the head of the Systematic Archaeology and History Section of the Bucharest Municipality Museum, told us about what the public can see in the George Severeanu Museum:

“They can see mainly what they can’t see anywhere else in Bucharest. That is, an archaeology and numismatics museum in an elegant setting, which I don’t think they can find in any other museum in Bucharest. Visitors will be able to almost all the stages of history, even prehistory, starting from the prehistory of Romania, passing through ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and the Roman era. A large section of the artifacts are from the local ancient period, that is the Getae, Dacians the Etruscans and other peoples who wandered through Europe.”

Vasile Opriș told us what the museum contains:

“It is a small but concentrated museum. The display method is modern, with elements such as caps on electronic tablets, holograms, and, much to the delight of the public and especially children, display cases with drawers, which give the visitor the opportunity to discover for themselves what is hidden in them.”

The building housing the George Severeanu Museum was built between 1908 and 1909. It preserves original architectural elements and the atmosphere of a period residence. In the collection, the visiting public can see Greek, Roman and Byzantine coins, statuettes, ceramic vessels, jewellery and archaeological objects from the Mediterranean area. An important part of the collection is made up of coins that tell the story of civilisations over 2,000 years old. The museum opened to the public in 1956.

The building that houses the museum has its own history and distinctive features:

“The house is built in an eclectic style. Its history is not related to the Severeanu family, but to Lerescu family, which is a well-name name in Argeș County, the former Muscel, the Lerescus being wealthy boyars at that time. The house was bought and given as dowry to one of the daughters of the boyar Lerescu, named Maria. She was married to a lawyer initially, but their marriage did not last very long, and then she married George Severeanu and together they formed this family. The actual collection that they donated is called Maria and Dr. George Severeanu. As I said, it is an eclectic house in terms of architecture. It preserves many of the original elements. It was restored between 2008 and 2013, and since 2017 it has been home to this museum. The family itself used to live here. They would hold thematic meetings, especially on coins, because George Severeanu was passionate about history, artifacts, but especially numismatic history. He is even a founding member of the Romanian Numismatic Society. He died in 1939 and it was his wish, which he laid down in his testament, to donate the entire collection to the city, to the Bucharest Municipality Museum, through his wife Maria Severeanu.”

We asked Vasile Opriș what is the museum’s biggest attraction for the visiting public:

“Unexpectedly for us, the things that visitors find most interesting are not the actual exhibits, but the objects that are part of the house’s furniture. Visitors take many photos of the antique masonry heaters. A room we call the Severeanu’s office, because it was where his office used to be, contains most of the original furniture, including a series of cabinets and filing cabinets used by him to store his coins. And when it comes to artifacts, tastes are quite divided here. But somehow the most shocking artifact, especially for children, is an Egyptian mummy’s hand.”

The George Severeanu Museum preserves the memory of civilizations that shaped the world. Through the collections presented here, the Bucharest Municipality Museum supports education, research and respect for heritage.