Sibiu "August von Spiess" Museum of Hunting

The Museum of Hunting is named after one of the important personalities of the city of Sibiu in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries: Colonel August von Spiess, the Keeper of the Royal Hunting under the King Ferdinand I of Romania.


The Museum opened as the first of its profile on the national level, in the year 1966, being accommodated in the Von Spiess residence, donated on this porpoise by the Colonel’s daughters. The collection comprises about 1600 items, arranged in five sections.


Arms and hunting instruments: the exhibition begins by a short history of arms and tools used in the process of hunting, starting in the Stone Age. Among exhibits are chopped flint items, spears, javelins, bows and crossbows along with firearms from the 14th century matchlocks to the modern cartridges, adjoining accessories as gunpowder containers, cartridges holders, daggers, blowing horns, dummies and traps used in poaching. The concept of the room is introductory, aiming for a general-notion presentation.


Small and medium sized trophies: starting in the second room, there are exhibited the impressive hunting trophies. The thematic message of this section is that today hunting is no more a cruel practice but a way of selecting and administrating the cynegetic trust, having as porpoise the conservation of the biodiversity of the wild fauna. There are presented exhibits representing bird-trophies adjoining small and medium sized game as foxes, wolves, wild-cats etc.


The “August von Spiess” Memorial Room: Dedicated to August von Spiess, the memorial room presents his personality and activity through his portrait, photos, gun, trophies, written literature, along with the presentation of his hunter-fellows and his family. There is also o section dedicated to Emil Witting, forestry engineer, who donated a great part of the extent Museum’s collection. The room is reconstituting one of the rooms in the Von Spiess’ residence after one of the interior photos, taken during the time of his life.


Large Sized Trophies: The present room displays impressive trophies of large, Carpathian game (stag, bear, wild boar, chamois) most of them awarded at national and international contests of the period between World Wars, reflecting the exceptional value of the Romanian game.


African Trophies: The last of the rooms describes the two African expeditions Von Spiess enterprise at ages 72 and 74, presenting African trophies: antelopes (Gnu, Impala, Oryx, etc), Caffer buffaloes, rhinoceros, zebra and many more.


The Museum courtyard in the back of the building was arranged to serve as a relaxation open space for the visitors and a proper environment for ecological education of children as it hosts many species of plants, a dog, fishes and a tortoise. (From Brukenthal National Museum)