The temporary exhibition "First Polar Night's Dream - Belgica - the 1897 - 1899 Antarctic Expedition" will open on Wednesday, November 6, at 19:00 at the 'Grigore Antipa' National Museum of Natural History in Bucharest in the presence of the museum's general director Luis Ovidiu Popa, exhibition curator Oana Paula Popa, director of the Geology Doctoral School of the Geology and Geophysics Faculty of the Bucharest University, Prof. Mihai Emilian Popa - PhD habil., editor-in-chief of the Historia magazine Ion M. Ionita, scientific researcher, Professor Oana Teodora Moldovan, biologist Traian Brad, ScD, both from the 'Emil Racovita' Speleology Institute of the Romanian Academy, as well as director of the Polish Institute in Bucharest Natalia Mosor, the Bucharest museum informs on Friday.

On display will be the microscope and magnifying glass ordered especially for biologist and speleologist Emil Racovita's lab on Belgica, the diaries kept by the Romanian naturalist during the expedition, pages from his correspondence with all the crew members, the first photographs taken beyond the south polar circle at the end of the 1800s, but also letters and dedications that Emil Racovita received from Roald Amundsen (by that time, a young second lieutenant aboard the Belgica), who, years later, would become a history-maker of 20th century geographical exploration.

Entry to the opening event is free, and the exhibition will be part of the museum's visiting program until May 4, 2025.

The dream of the first austral polar night was turned into reality by young Belgian commander Adrien de Gerlache together with a crew of nine scientific officers and 10 sailors, on a small ship with a modest whaling past in the waters of the frozen north, converted and rechristened Belgica. Romanian scientist Emil Racovita was the naturalist of this expedition that successfully ended 125 years ago.

The Belgica became famous for being the first expedition whose crew spent 13 months locked in the southern ice shelf, during which time its scientists made extremely valuable meteorological and oceanographic observations and measurements, while fighting hard to survive scurvy and 'polar anaemia'. Belgica's scientific findings have been published for about four decades in the form of nine volumes (65 fascicles) which represent to this day landmark works for fields such as zoology, botany, meteorology or glaciology.

The exhibition project is carried out in partnership with the Cluj-Napoca branch of the Romanian Academy and the Polish Institute Bucharest. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Popescu, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - editor: Simona Klodnischi)