Article by Andrei Crăiţoiu – Published on Thursday, 23 April 2026, 09:29 / Updated on Thursday, 23 April 2026 09:34
Ion Țiriac (86 years old) is preparing a new spectacular bet: an animal museum, intended for children and a unique gallery of tennis rackets, built next to his car collection in Otopeni.
With naturalized elephants, jungle projected on hundreds of meters of screens and over 1,200 rockets from all eras, Ion Țiriac promises to be one of the most unusual museums in Romania. The disclosure was made to Ovidiu Ioanițoaia, on the show “Ovidiu's Friends”.
– Mr. Țiriac, you have been to China. what did you do there
– I saw factories of an artificial nature. Leaves, grass, which I need because I want to make the Animal Museum. They do it next to the one of the cars in Otopeni. I don't want to call it hunting, because there is too much discussion. It will be the Animal Museum for children.
– What does that mean?
– That I bring all the animals I have to Brașov, naturalized, not stuffed. I have elephants, giraffes…
– Do you have elephants in Brașov?
– My friends have seen them, but now I want to bring them to the children! There will be a big queue, the children have never seen anything like this in their lives. How can they stay in their lives in front of an elephant?! I need 500 meters of screens.
“I have seen ten thousand elephants, but only shot two in 60 years”
– Is the elephant shot by you?!
– Yes! In 60 years I shot two elephants. One was so old, in Tanzania, that its tusks reached the ground. And the second one I shot in Botswana. I have seen ten thousand elephants, but only shot two in 60 years.
– And now I'm in Brașov?
– There I have a building of five, six thousand meters where I put these animals.
– When do you think you'll let go?
– This will be a much bigger problem because you will need approvals. I want to do it near the car museum, in Otopeni. And in between I will make the Rocket Museum.
– You mean?!
– I have 1,200 tennis rackets! The largest collection in the world, from 1800 to the present day. And celebrities, too… Rocket history. Maximum two years. I want to finish quickly because I am very hasty at my age. That's why I went to China. I need screens because behind the animals I will design the jungle. A complex and expensive job.
“I also saw the car that went 496.22 km per hour on the circuit!”
– What impressed you most in China?
– I live in another era! From 2008 to today they have changed enormously. I haven't been since 2008, the last time I was in Hong Kong. I had come with the president of the Sydney Olympic Committee. I remember that in 2000 I wanted to move the tournament from Stuttgart to Hong Kong, but I had no chance.
– And what happened?
– We had nowhere to build a stadium. But 40 kilometers away, there was an eight-lane expressway in Shenzhen. It had 3-4 million inhabitants. I have been to Shenzhen now, after 25 years. It has 26 million inhabitants! But from Shenzhen, I drove another two hours, to the nature, plastic factory. I was going 120-130 km per hour, but I didn't see a meter without a city! Let me tell you something else.
Shenzhen
– Please.
– Call the car home by phone. I also saw the car that went 496.22 km per hour on the circuit! A racing car made by the Chinese. It's another matter…
– Another world. You also told me that the car drives itself.
– Not only does it go, but you also talk to the car. You tell it where to take you and it takes you. You leave it in the middle of the street and it parks itself, wherever it finds a place. Then you call her and if you stay 30 kilometers away she comes. It does 1,300-1,500 kilometers with a full charge of electricity.
