Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali e Fisiche, Natural history museum in Naples, Italy.
The Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali e Fisiche is a natural history museum in Naples with five specialized departments covering mineralogy, zoology, anthropology, paleontology, and physics. The collections include more than 150,000 scientific specimens spread across these distinct areas of study.
The Real Museo Mineralogico was founded in 1801 by Ferdinando IV di Borbone in the former library of the Collegio Massimo dei Gesuiti, the first such museum in Italy. The zoological museum followed in 1813 under Gioacchino Murat, organised by its first director Luigi Petagna. Anthropology was added in 1881 through Giustiniano Nicolucci, palaeontology in 1932 under Geremia D'Erasmo, and physics in 1983; the five were united as a centre in 1992.
The anthropology museum, founded in 1881 by Giustiniano Nicolucci, displays finds Heinrich Schliemann donated from his excavations of Troy II. The zoology museum grew from private collections bought in 1813 and from specimens already held by the Bourbons, organised by its first director Luigi Petagna.
The center has two sites: via Mezzocannone 8, near Università and Duomo stations on Metro Line 1, and largo San Marcellino 10, where the paleontology museum sits in the San Marcellino e Festo complex. Bus lines 460, 202, R2 and C57 also serve the area. The two sites are close enough to visit on foot.
The Physics Museum holds a telescope objective lens made by Evangelista Torricelli in 1654, one of the few of his still preserved, and an optical bench built by Macedonio Melloni, among the earliest examples of such apparatus. The Anthropology Museum displays finds from Troy II donated by Heinrich Schliemann to Giustiniano Nicolucci.
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