7 Arhiepiscopiei Street, Ovidiu Square, Constanța
The Archaeological Museum in the Black Sea city of Constanta was founded in 1879, when the first prefect of the county, Remus Opreanu, set up a modest collection of antiquities right in the prefecture headquarters. It thus became an important cultural institution and a nucleus of museographic research. Thus, the natural need for a book collection to serve the institution's specialists in their documentation and research work also arose.
The museum library began to be organized on a scientific basis in 1970, the first volume recorded in the Inventory Register being the very first issue of the magazine. Pontice – studii și materiale de istorie, arheologie și muzeografie – anuarul muzeului constănțean, ce are o apariție neîntreruptă din 1968.
The yearbook aroused the interest of Romanian and foreign specialists from the very beginning, so that an internal and external exchange of publications was immediately established. Year after year, the exceptional value of this periodical was proven by the high demand for exchange from the most prestigious museums, archaeological institutes, universities or academies in the world. It thus came to pass that the library of the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța annually sends PONTICA to over 100 addresses in approximately 30 countries.
The yearbook aroused the interest of Romanian and foreign specialists from the very beginning, so that an internal and external exchange of publications was immediately established. Year after year, the exceptional value of this periodical was proven by the high demand for exchange from the most prestigious museums, archaeological institutes, universities or academies in the world. It thus came to pass that the library of the Museum of National History and Archaeology Constanța annually sends PONTICA to over 100 addresses in approximately 30 countries.
Our library's inventories today contain over 40,000 volumes and, among the specialized libraries in the country, it has come to occupy the first places. The book collection is enriched annually through acquisitions, national and international exchanges or donations. Books from international publication exchange are placed in modules according to their countries of origin. Then there are modules with books regarding the archaeology of Dobrogea, the archaeology of the other Romanian provinces, modules with the periodicals of the important museums in the country – always with updated issues –, publications on numismatics, epigraphy, Byzantine studies, medieval, modern and contemporary history of Romania, anthropology, universal history, philosophy, geography. There is also in the collections of the Constanța museum library an important collection of publications from the interwar period purchased from specialized second-hand bookshops in Bucharest.
The volumes under our management, many of which are of great value to specialists in the field, have often complemented museographic efforts, enriching the museum's exhibitions.
The Library of the Museum of National History and Archaeology in Constanta is a specialized, closed-circuit library. It is frequented by specialists in the fields of history and archaeology, as well as by students or doctoral candidates of the Faculty of History at the “Ovidius” University in Constanta.
