The Accademia Lancisiana is located in The Monumental Complex of Santo Spirito in Saxia in Rome (Borgo Santo Spirito Street), not so far from the St.Peter's Basilica and the Vatican City.The academy was founded by Giovanni Maria Lancisi in 1715. At first it was situated in the Biblioteca Lancisiana of the Arcispedale di Santo Spirito in Saxia. However the seat was too small, so the inauguration and the following meetings took place in other meeting rooms of the Palazzo del Commendatore in the same Complex.
As it was stated in the oration De recta Studiorum Medicorum ratione instituenda Lancisi thought that all those who make progress in medicine thanks to the tasks they had been assigned, had to be grateful to those people who had assigned them the tasks and had to make their progress known to those who began the same kind of studies. So he decided to found an academy where doctors and students of medicine could meet and discuss about medical topics: in this way they would develop eloquence and readiness for action.
Unfortunately Lancisi died in 1720. After his death the activity of Accademia Lancisiana started decreasing until it stopped. In the following centuries other medical academies were founded to continue Lancisi’s work, but the Accademia Lancisiana definitive re-opening took place in 1856 with the name of Società Lancisiana. Later on it retook the original denomination of Accademia Lancisiana.
At present, the Accademia has its seat on the ground floor of the Palazzo del Commendatore in Borgo Santo Spirito in Saxia. The seat consists of five rooms: the office of the President, the hall, the conference room, the secretary's office and the library, where you can find books dating back to XVI, XVII, XVIII, XIX and XX century. In the wonderful woodwork library you can see the busts of ten famous surgeons and anatomics of the past.
The Hall of Accademia Lancisiana
A picture of Paolo V who founded Banco Santo Spirito to finance Arciospedale di Santo Spirito in Saxia
A plaque quoting Lancisi’s following words: ”Nothing as making a public speech stimulates human mind and encourages human genius to work actively and make prompt decisions.
The library of Accademia Lancisiana
The office of the President
The secretary's office
- Photos by Alfonso Maria Di Tommaso ti.orebil|mosnoflatd#| (December 2013), courtesy of Accademia Lancisiana.
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Related items
- Accademia Lancisiana's library
- Antonio Biagi's memorial plaque
- Giovanni Maria Lancisi's bust in Accademia Lancisiana
Bibliography
- A. Bacchini, La vita e le opere di Giovanni Maria Lancisi(1654-1720) ,Roma, 1920
- Pietro De Angelis Giovanni Maria Lancisi, La Biblioteca Lancisiana L'Accademia Lancisiana ,Roma 1965