Museo di Storia Naturale dell''Università di Pavia

Designed for teaching purposes thanks to Lazzaro Spallanzani, chair of the new Natural History Institute, the museum was founded in 1771 with a first set of minerals, donated by Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. In 1775, the collections (personal collections, acquisitions, exchanges and donations) were displayed in the notable seat of the main university building, where they remained and grew for over a century. Boasting over 24,000 specimens as early as 1780, the museum’s fame soon reached leading scientific authorities and figures. After Spallanzani’‘s death in 1799, the museum’s collection development continued with his successors, Giuseppe Mangili, Gian Maria Zendrini and Giuseppe Balsamo Crivelli. With the approval of the Special University Regulation, which included Comparative Anatomy in the Science Faculty and separated Zoology from Mineralogy, teaching was performed firstly by Chairs, then by Institutes. Therefore, in 1875, the Natural History Museum was parted into sections, which became independent museums tied to their respective subject institutes. Zoology was assigned to Pietro Pavesi; Comparative Anatomy to Leopoldo Maggi; and Mineralogy to Torquato Taramelli as of 1887. The Comparative Anatomy Museum (1903) and the Zoology Museum (1935) were later transferred to Palazzo Botta. Around 1960, the Zoology, Comparative Anatomy and Palaeontology collections moved to the wide Visconteo Castle, with the aim to found a public museum there; sadly, this never happened. The following years saw the unstoppable decline of precious exhibits, until the Interdepartmental Centre of University Museum Services was founded in 1995 and oversaw the restoration of all exhibits concerned and valorised collection excerpts through temporary exhibitions. In response to the need to preserve the local history of natural sciences for future generations, a permanent premises for the Natural History Museum is currently being planned. At present can be accessed by the public a wonderful collection of wax models and the vertebrates collection, including preparations from the Spallanzani era, like a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) gained in 1781, a Nile Crocodile (Cracodylus niloticus) gained in 1782, a hippopotamus (Hippopotamus, amphibius) gained in 1783, a young orang-utan gained in 1786; a shark (Isurus oxyrhynchus) captured in 1790 and a jaw bone of a Greenland whale (Balena mysticetus) donated to Spallanzani by the Hapsburg government in 1793.
The collections include 35.000 fossils, 400.000 invertebrates, 7.000 vertebrates, 5.000 anatomical jars and dry specimens.

Services
The museum offers workshops and guided tour by reservation and temporary exhibition.