Brad Gold Museum

The Gold Museum in Brad, Romania, exhibits 1,300 pieces of gold alongside 1,000 mineral samples. This treasure trove has the distinction of being Europe’s only gold museum. Revamped in recent years, Brad’s museum has been around for a long time, with the first entry in its guestbook made in 1912.

Romania ranks among the countries with the highest reserves of gold per inhabitant in the world. This largess emerged from centuries of dedicated Romanian gold-mining. The oldest mines in the country are Roman in origin and first in operation nearly 2000 years ago. 

Much of the Brad museum’s gold collection is unique in that it is presented in its original form, as though carried straight from the mines to the display case. “Undoubtedly one can see here the most beautiful specimens of gold in the world,” says Brad’s mayor Florin Cazacu. The fantastic shapes produced by the gold in its natural state have earned the pieces fanciful names and international fame.

Based on their appearance, the gold forms acquire monikers like “The Golden Lizard,” “The Feather” and “The Ballerina.” The lizard, weighing in at a mere seven-tenths a gram of gold, is valued at more than 3 million euros – and it has quite a history, chosen to represent Romania at the World Fair Exhibition in Paris in 1937. 

Visitors to Brad can feast their eyes on more mineral wealth than they’re likely to ever see contained in a single building. “I would say that inside the Gold Museum in Brad there are the most valuable five pounds of gold in the world,” claims Mayor Cazacu. Gold enthusiasts, and others who love beautiful elements prized from the ground, should know that in a small Romanian city, a great abundance of riches await.