The National Military Museum — Attraction in Bucharest

The bad:

There are a lot of things that are missing and the museum could definitely be more interactive. Most of the scenes recreated in the museum were not well lit. There was dead silence in the whole museum. Another thing that sucked and was completely opposed to other museums worldwide was the fact that the ticket price was a little higher because I booked it online. It usually is a bit cheaper. most of the maps were clearly made a long time ago, and even tho they were superbly crafted, they were missing bits. So, an incomplete map it's not for much use...

The good:

Getting over this, the museum was pretty great! I've spent around 3 hours in it and I really loved most of it. It has a generous amount of pieces.

I would invest more in the maintenance of the speakers (there were a bunch all over the place, but none worked), buy a handful of monitors, and contract some animators to illustrate some of the battles/weapons/battle techniques and other simulations that could be portrayed. I'd also make some of the pieces more interactive (ex. There were some German binoculars that they were showcasing. They were not pointing to anything. They could point to a small picture or at something and make the visitors watch thru it to see something in the distance)

All in all, it's a pretty damn good museum for Romania standards and a very meh one for...

Fairly interesting museum with a focus on Romanian military (obviously) from the stone age (chipped rocks) through the years to WWII. Most everything is in Romanian though many descriptions also include a separate English translation so you at least know what you are looking at. A knowledge of Romanian history would be helpful as it appears there are many warring periods and battles mapped out, but it is all lost on me. It stops at WWII, so there is nothing covering the last 80 years.

Air conditioning is a bit weak working well only at reception and the top floor. It was refreshing to go somewhere where there were so few patrons. The number of personnel watching the exhibits outnumbered visitors.

A little miffed that at most places in this country so far, we get a senior discount (usually 50%), but here, that was denied because we are American - discount only for EU residents. Full price for us at 20 Lei per person.

With minimal signage, the museum is easy to miss (look for the tank and howitzers in front and go through the small central gate in front of the entrance. Lighting inside is hard to spot, so even after entering the gate, we weren't sure if it was...

Still can't decide if it should be 3 or 4 stars. I had a much better time there than I was expecting, considering I'm not very interested in weapons and wars. But I love archeology, and really enjoyed the first section (it starts chronologically, from the first signs of weapons and tools discovered, to the present day). You can pay by card, which is a big plus, some Romanian museums are cash only. The museum could use a lot more interactive exhibits, for example all the maps with arrows representing population migrations or troop movements would have been easier to follow if they were animated. Also, the major historical events are mentioned, but not explained very extensively. The museum kind of assumes you're somewhat familiar with the most important events and people in our history. So if you're not Romanian and haven't studied Romanian history in school, you might have to do some extra googling to figure things out. Don't forget to visit the aeronautics collection in the back of the museum, it's small but very nice. It also contains the cosmonaut suit of Dumitru Prunariu, and the Soyuz 40 descent...