Civico Museo di Storia Naturale di Trieste
Civico Museo di Storia Naturale is the urban Natural History Museum of Trieste.
Location
The Natural History Museum is currently in Biserini Palazzo in Piazza Attilio Hortis in the district of Borgo Giuseppino. In the building more public facilities such as the Biblioteca Biblioteca Civica Attilio Hortis and the Museo Petrarchesco Piccolomineo are housed. Due to the spatially limited facilities is planned, the museum in the coming years is expected to move in Carciotti Palazzo on the Grand Canal. The botanical garden at Via Marchesetti is affiliated with the Museum.
History
1796 joined in Trieste a group of citizens to Società di Amici della Scienza Naturale ( Society of Friends of Natural Sciences) together, who founded in 1846 the Gabinetto zoological Zootomico ( Cabinet of Animal Science and Veterinary Anatomy ). The management of the originally private entity took over the Swiss businessman Henry Koch ( 1815-1881 ). The seat of the museum was located in the Contrada del Lazzaretto Vecchio (now Via Lazzaretto Vecchio).
On February 9, 1852, the institution of the municipality of Trieste was founded and placed under the patronage of the Mayor of Trieste, Muzio de Tommasini. Due to the ever growing collections and the limited space available, the seat of the Museum in 1856 Biserini Palazzo in Piazza Lipsia (today Piazza Attilio Hortis ) laid. As part of the move the museum in honor of Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian of Austria was renamed Museo Civico Ferdinando Massimiliano.
1903 the Natural History Museum, the Botanical Garden of Trieste was connected.
Exhibition
Focus of the collection of the Museum are exhibits from paleontology, geology, mineralogy, zoology and botany.
Paleontology, geology and mineralogy
In paleontology collection copies are issued from the neighboring karst. Of particular importance, the fossils remains of a 75 million years old carnivorous dinosaur from the nearby Villaggio del Pescatore in Duino- Aurisina and the bones are numerous cave bear (Ursus spelaeus ) from the last ice age. The reptile department shows, among other things Carsosaurus Marchesetti, a marine lizard from the Cretaceous period. 1999, a range of paleontological collection of human evolution was dedicated with numerous skeletons of Java man. In addition, some Egyptian mummies and a sarcophagus from about 1000 BC are exhibited.
Zoology
The zoological collection contains a significant Entomologieabteilung with over 500,000 insects, which come mainly from Friuli- Venezia Giulia. The Ichthyologieabteilung is especially dedicated to the marine animals of the northern Adriatic Sea and includes some sharks, including a 5- meter-long great white shark. In the collection of bonefish a rare specimen of the coelacanth ( Coelacanthus ) is issued, which originates from the west coast of the Comoros Islands. Furthermore, the zoological collection includes amphibians, reptiles, birds and many mammals.
Botany
The botanical collection of the museum is devoted to the particular karst flora. For botanical collection also includes the Botanical Garden of Trieste on Via Marchesetti to grow in the characteristic plants from Venezia Giulia.
Research and Education
Some rooms of the museum are reserved for research and study purposes. In addition to a number of laboratories, the museum has a library of over 50,000 scientific books and journals.