The house where the "Poni - Cernătescu" Museum in Iași operates today is a building with a particularly rich history, built in 1839 by Metropolitan Veniamin Costachi. Over the decades, it has been owned by several personalities. In 1859, the building belonged to the serdar Nicolae Goncescu, who sold it to Metropolitan Calinic Miclescu for the sum of 1500 gold coins. Later, in 1874, the lawyer Dimitrie Telemaque purchased the house for 1000 gold coins. From 1880, it became the residence of the famous professor and chemist Petru Poni, together with his family, until 1925. After this date, the property passed to the scientist's daughter, Margareta Poni, a chemist by profession, who donated the house, in 1973, to the People's Council of Iași, in order to organize a memorial museum dedicated to the Petru Poni family.
In 1974, the scientist’s granddaughter, Professor Florica Mageru, completed this initiative by offering the “Moldova” National Museum Complex in Iași an important donation. This included the entire movable patrimony existing at that time in the Poni family house: furniture, personal items, diplomas, medals, photographs and decorative objects. After an extensive restoration process, the building was transformed into a museum, being officially inaugurated on November 7, 1991 under the name of the “Petru Poni” Iași Chemistry Museum. Three years later, following an extensive reorganization, the museum was renamed the “Poni-Cernătescu” Museum.
A notable aspect of the house’s history is that, during the First World War, the valuable collections of the Romanian Academy Library were housed here. Also, starting with 1930, academician Radu Cernătescu, another prominent personality of Romanian chemistry, lived in this house.
The museum's permanent exhibition is organized in six rooms. Five of them are arranged in a memorial style: the reception hall, the dining room, the library, the Matilda Cugler-Poni room and the Radu Cernătescu room, and the sixth is intended for the personalities of Iași chemistry, being arranged in the form of a chemistry laboratory, dedicated to museum pedagogy workshops.
The reception hall is reconstructed according to the specific Iași model from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, serving as a private space for socializing, family reunions and receiving guests, but sometimes also used as a dance hall. The furniture is grouped around a central table, evoking the atmosphere of the era.
The dining room preserves the original carved oak furniture, decorative objects, photographs and art reproductions. The meetings of the literary circle "Junimea" took place here, attended by prominent personalities such as Mihai Eminescu, Veronica Micle, Ion Creangă and Ioan Slavici.
The office was dedicated to reading and studying, including the library and the desk of Petru Poni. Documents, scientific works and personal objects of the scientist are kept here, such as the inkwell, the desk clock and the notebook, illustrating his activity in the fields of chemistry, physics and history.
The room of Matilda Cugler-Poni, the scientist's wife, is decorated in the "salon" style of the late 19th century, being a space for feminine conversations or relaxation. In this room there are eclectic pieces of furniture, decorative objects such as mirrors, jewelry boxes, mother-of-pearl binoculars and pieces of Japanese lacquer, as well as photographs that preserve the memory of the poet.
The room of Radu Cernătescu, the grandson of Petru Poni, contains furniture, photographs and personal objects of the academician, reflecting both his professional activity and his passion for music. The “Bosendörfer” piano and the “His Master’s Voice” gramophone, along with a collection of ebonite records, evoke the everyday atmosphere of the house.
The chemistry laboratory is furnished with a workbench, substances, laboratory glassware, an interactive plasma and display cases housing documents, books, diplomas and personal objects belonging to renowned chemistry professors, such as Nicolae Costăchescu, Anastasie Obregia and Mihai Dima.
To complement the exhibition, a collection of minerals and mine flowers has been arranged on the semi-basement of the building, in a setting that suggests the mining atmosphere, illustrating Petru Poni’s concerns in mineralogy. The two vaulted rooms offer visitors a unique foray into the world of minerals, completing the valuable heritage of this memorial museum dedicated to prominent figures of Romanian science.
Sursa: palatulculturii.ro
