The concept of evolution is essential to understanding the answers to questions such as: Where did people come from? What is life? What is man? Why do we exist? and Does life have a meaning? Since Charles Darwin published his famous book on the origin of species and natural selection, we no longer have to resort to mythical and superstitious explanations to be able to provide curious children with answers to these questions.

The exhibition shows exclusive items that bear witness to the first moments of the appearance of life on Earth, its flourishing in the oceans, the conquest of the land, and the development of human ancestors and their transformation into modern humans. It reveals how symbiosis made it possible for life to conquer the land, and for people to create civilisation and culture. And much, much more.

Besides other exhibits, there are stromatolite fossils from Australia, approximately 3.5 billion years old and representing the oldest evidence of the presence of living beings on Earth. Next to them, there are fossils of Psylophyton and Taeniocrada, some of the first land plants, which were found in eastern Serbia. The fossils of Cyclostigma, the oldest trees that appeared on our planet, were found at the same location. The skeletons of various today’s animals show us how evolution is endlessly changing, albeit with numerous imperfections, the basic plan of the structure of living beings and gradually develops, modifies and creates new species. Fossils of primates, some of which were discovered in Serbia, as well as those of anthropomorphic monkeys and extinct human species, testify to the above. Among them are the skeletons of the most famous australopithecus, Lucy, which was discovered in Ethiopia in 1974, the Peking and Neanderthal men, and the little-known close relative of today’s humans, the bonobo.

Some of these exceptional items were found on the territory of today’s Serbia. However, the Natural History Museum also offers a part of the world’s cultural heritage of natural history, which has been preserved and can only be seen in a small number of museums in the world. These are the discoveries that have shaped and determined our current view of the world.

The “Evolution” exhibition opened on 30 December 2021 at the gallery of the Natural History Museum in Belgrade, and closed on 27 November 2022. It was staged as the final event of the celebration of the 125^th anniversary of the founding of the Natural History Museum and was accompanied by a publication bearing the same name.

Professional associates:
Desa Đorđević Milutinović
Jelena Bogosavljević
Miloš Milivojević

Scenography of the exhibition and graphic design:
Anja Marčetić
Biljana Sovilj

Portrait illustrations:
Bora Milićević

Illustrations of figures:
Dejan Vukadinović

Illustrations of scenes:
Bojan Debenak, Radomir Izgarević

Photos:
Boris Ivančević
Bora Milićević
Marjan Niketić
Aleksandar Stojanović

Animation:
Bogdan Sovilj

Graphic processing of illustrations:
Predrag Ilić