La Specola
4611066
221066427
2008-06-22T22:26:51Z
Kresspahl
259996
[[Image:Zoologia La Specola - wax anatomical models.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Wax anatomical models in the Zoologia "La Specola"]]
The '''Museum of Zoology and Natural History, "La Specola"''' is located in [[Florence]], next to the [[Pitti Palace]]. The name "[[Specola]]" means [[observatory]], a reference to the astronomical observatory founded there in 1790. It now forms part of the [[Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze]].
The museum has deep ties to history; parts of the collection trace back to the [[Medici|Medici Family]]. It is known for its collection of wax anatomical models from the 18th century.
This museum is located in the former Palazzo Torrigani at Via Romana 17, near the [[Pitti Palace]].<ref> Marta Poggesi, “The Anatomical Waxes of “La Specola,” in ''La Specola: Anatomie in Wachs in Kontrast zu Bildern der modernen Medizin/ Anatomy in Wax in Contrast with Images of Modern Medicine''. Eds. Peter Friess and Susanne Witzgall. Bonn: Deutsches Museum Bonn, 2000. 12-21. </ref> The Imperial Regio Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale (The Imperial-Royal Museum for Physics and Natural History) was founded in [[1771]] by [[Peter Leopold of Hapsburg-Lotharingen]], [[Grand Duke]] of Tuscany, to publicly display the large collection of natural curiosities such as [[fossil]]s, animals, minerals and exotic plants acquired by several generations of the Medici. At the time of its opening, and for the first years of the 19th century, it was the only scientific museum or ''[[Wunderkammer]]'' of its kind specifically created for the public to view. It opened on 21 February 1775 to the general public.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Anatomica: Museo La Specola Florence.'' Köln: Taschen, 2004. ISBN 3822838489</ref>
Today the museum spans 34 rooms and contains not only zoological subjects, such as a stuffed [[hippopotamus]] (a 17th-century Medici pet, which once lived in the Boboli Gardens), but also a collection of [[anatomy|anatomical]] waxes, an art developed in Florence in the 17th century for the purpose of teaching [[medicine]]. This collection is very famous worldwide for the incredible accuracy and realism of the details, copied from real corpses. Also in ''La Specola'' on display are scientific and medical instruments. Parts of the museum are decorated with frescoes and [[pietra dura]] representing some of the principal Italian scientific achievements from the Renaissance to the late 18th century.
The visit to this part of the museum inspired the creators of the [[Hollywood]] movie ''[[Hollow Man]]'' by [[Paul Verhoeven]], especially in those scenes when the protagonist gradually turns from invisibility to visibility, first showing veins, then organs and muscles under the skin.{{Fact|date=January 2008}} It is also used in Eleanor Updale's ''[[Montmorency and the assassins]]'' as the centre for anarchists.{{Fact|date=January 2008}}
==Notes==
<references/>
==Important Collections==
*[[Camillo Rondani]] [[Diptera]] and [[Hymenoptera]]
*[[Ruggero Verity]] [[Lepidoptera]]
*Also see entry for painter, [[Jacopo Ligozzi]]
==External links==
{{Commons|Category:Museo della Specola (Florence)}}
*[http://www.museumsinflorence.com/musei/museum_of_natural_history.html] Museum of Zoology and Natural History "La Specola"
[[Category:Museums in Florence]]
[[Category:Natural history museums]]
[[it:Museo di storia naturale sezione di zoologia La Specola]]
[[ja:スペコーラ美術館]]