Danube Delta Ecotouristic Museum Center, Tulcea

Danube Delta Ecotourism Museum Center or the Aquarium in Tulcea, but not only

Where? When? When? When?

Ecotouristic Museum Center "Danube Delta", long and pompous name, the Aquarium of Tulcea, but this last name does not correctly cover the museum's theme, is located in Tulcea, str. 14 Noiembrie, nr. 1, postal code 820009.

At the intersection of 5 streets, where 14 November and Gloriei Streets converge, leading down from the Heroes' Monument, the city's lookout point, you can find some free parking spaces.

It is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 9am to 5pm, last admission at 4pm.

The entrance fee is 20 lei full price, for pensioners 10 lei, and for children, students 5 lei.

The museum presents fauna from the Danube Delta and the Black Sea, but not only.

Danube Delta Ecotouristic Museum Center Tulcea

Appreciations

We liked this museum which we visited on the last day before its temporary closure for renovation works. We noted positively that we met at the time of our visit several dozen other tourists, many with children. It is a well structured and educational museum.

About the museum

On their website it says that the museum is the result of the collaboration between the County Council and the Institute of Eco-Museum Research "Gavrilă Simion", both from Tulcea. It was inaugurated and opened in 2009. Gavrila Simion, whose bust is placed in front of the museum, is a Tulcea professor and archaeologist, founder of the museum school in Bessarabia.

The museum consists of a permanent exhibition presenting Dobrogea's fauna and flora, a public aquarium and temporary exhibitions. More than 100 species of plants, reptiles, birds, mammals are presented either in their natural environment, in the case of the aquarium, or in suggestive dioramas. Species that have been declared monuments of nature, protected or even extinct, are also mentioned, as well as some new species that have entered the Danube Delta ecosystem.

The aquarium holds 150 tons of water. I knew it as the largest aquarium in Romania, but it probably no longer holds that record. Here we find 24 species of native fish, 23 species of reef fish, invertebrates and corals. For a short tour, the visiting route goes through a tunnel, which gives you the feeling that you are really in the marine world with the fish.

1. Welcome!

We photograph the building Ecotouristic Museum Center "Danube Delta" and the bust of Gavrila Simion.

Gavrilă Simion

Tulcea Aquarium

2. Space at the museum entrance

We notice a few paintings and plans from the ground floor.

painting

Danube Basin

3. Aquarium

We go down to the basement to the aquarium.

The first to come our way are reef animals, then farmed carp, fish in tropical rivers, fish in lakes and ponds.

Then we go through the tunnel where we see sturgeon and other fish swimming around us.

Moving on to tropical fish and reef animals.

On leaving the aquarium level, we say hello to the turtles.

Reef shark

Cultured carp

Fish from tropical rivers

Fish in lakes

Sturgeons and other fish

Fish in lakes

snake

tropical fish

reef animals

turtles

4. Danube Delta

Entering the Danube Delta. This part of the museum is on the ground floor.

We look up to admire a pelican before it takes us to the corner with interesting information about the genesis and evolution of the Danube Delta, which in its beginnings was ... the Tulcea Bay.

Archaeological finds from the Danube Delta area are presented in an exhibition system, and next to them are the stages of the Danube Delta's inhabitation from the earliest times.

We also learn about the Danube Delta in historical documents.

The most attractive corner for children on this floor is the presentation of the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. Here we find several very good dioramas depicting the habitats where the animals and birds of the delta live.

A hornet's nest is also in the visitor's path.

A separate diorama shows the Razim-Sinoe lagoon complex.