The Museo Anatomico was founded in 1811. It is now part of the M.U.S.A, "Museo Universitario delle Scienze e delle Arti" ("Universitarian Museum of Sciences and Arts"), a museum complex which gather the old museums of anatomy, pharmacology and stomatology1.
The core items of the actual miscellany were part of some early collections, and were originally located in other places (San Giacomo Apostolo Hospital, Ospedale degli Incurabili and in some private collections)2.
The Museum is hosted in the rooms of the "Convento di S. Patrizia" (via Luciano Armanni, 5), in Napoli, where the lecture halls and some departments of the Seconda Università degli studi di Napoli are localized, just a few meters away from the Ospedale degli Incurabili.
Leaving the courtyard of the Incurabili Hospital, passing through an arc which is part of to the original structure of the hospital, you enter in a small street (Via Luciano Armanni). After just twenty meters, the entrance door of the rooms of the University can be seen.
On the way for the Department of Anatomy, a magnificent frescoed barrel vault can be appreciated, part of the cloister of the "Convento di S. Patrizia".
Among the halls of the department, an old wooden door leads into a very large room, where lots of ancient and huge display cabinets can be found that show many anatomical reproductions and findings.
The collection is composed of a variety of items, ranging from wax models (by the sculptor Francesco Saverio Citarelli), formalin storages of dead fetuses and parts of the human body, dried organs and pathological structures. A lot of pathologically altered skeletons and some "curiosities" (linked to the history of anatomy and medicine) complete this set of pieces.
Before going and visit the collection, one is invited to arrange an appointment (using the official site) with the Director of the museum, currently prof. Vincenzo Esposito.
- Photos by moc.liamg|errot.omleilgug#erroT omleilguG (October 2010), courtesy of the Director of the Museum, Prof. Vincenzo Esposito
- Locate this item on this Google Map.
Some of the precious items which are shown into the museum are:
* Andreas Vesalius humerus
* Formalin storages
* A drying
* A wax full-body model