RO25 Drobeta Turnu Severin: The Iron Gates Region Museum

Drobeta-Turnu Severin is a city in Oltenia, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates, a gorge on the river Danube.

The aim of our trip to that city with an impressively rich past was mainly the visit to the huge Iron Gates Region Museum.

We started outdoors with a tour of the Roman remains.  On the bank of the Danube are the ruins of the celebrated Trajan's Bridge, the longest in the Empire. Here the Danube is about 1,200 m wide. Then we headed for the extensive remains of the large Roman thermal baths and amphitheatre.

Finally, the guide took us to the bridgehead fort which has been extensively excavated. She gave us a wealth of detailed information about the life in the Roman castrum at the time of the Roman conquest of Dacia.

Then we went indoors to continue the visit. The museum itself focuses on three themes:

-history from prehistory to contemporary age.

-ethnography and folk art: a precious rich heritage, with all aspects on the rural civilization in the Iron Gates region

- natural sciences: physical and geographical conditions of the Iron Gates Gorge, its flora and fauna and the fishes found in the Danube.

We spent quite a lot of time inside the museum as it contained what seemed inexhaustible riches.

The students were really impressed by the size of the museum. They without any doubt learnt a lot about that region in all kinds of fields. Of course the Roman remains so vividly brought back to life were the highlights of the exhibition. As all the explanations were in English, they improved their language skills as well.