While the museum houses an ethnographic and natural-sciences section, as well as an aquarium displaying Danubian species, the highlight is a scale model of the Roman bridge constructed across the Danube in AD 103 by Greek architect Apollodorus of Damascus on orders of Emperor Trajan (r AD 98–117). The bridge stood just below the site of the present museum, and the ruins (ruinele podului lui Traian) of two of its pillars can still be seen towering beside the Danube.
In its day the bridge was a tremendous feat of engineering and was more than 1100m in length and 15m wide. Nearby, you'll see scattered pieces of rock and debris that were once part of a Roman bath and colony along the banks of the river. The museum is located on the far eastern end of B-dul Carol I.