Museo di storia naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici, museum of Fisiocritici Acadamy in Siena
The Museo di storia naturale dell'Accademia dei Fisiocritici is a natural history museum in Siena housed in a former Camaldolese monastery, displaying thousands of specimens including animal skeletons, plants, minerals, and fossils. The museum spans two floors organized into four main sections, featuring a remarkable skeleton of a whalebone whale and a rare library collection that reveals how scientific research developed over centuries.
The Academy of Fisiocritici was founded in 1691 and became one of Italy's oldest scientific institutions dedicated to studying how the natural world works. The museum itself developed from collections assembled in the 1800s and continues that tradition of sharing scientific knowledge with the public today.
The museum grew from the Academy of Fisiocritici, which has existed for over 300 years and has always aimed to share knowledge about the natural world. Today visitors can see how this institution continues to connect the local community with scientific discovery through projects like Siena BiodiverCity, which involves residents in protecting the city's wildlife and plants.
The museum is located in Siena's historic center on Piazzetta Silvio Gigli and is easy to reach by foot or public transport. The collections are logically arranged across two floors, allowing visitors to explore at their own pace, and guided tours, workshops, and hands-on activities for families and school groups are offered regularly.
One particularly striking feature is the large skeleton of a whalebone whale about 15 meters long displayed in the museum's interior courtyard, which is among its most recognizable exhibits. This skeleton gives visitors an immediate sense of the size and diversity of ocean life and has become an identifying landmark of the institution within Siena's cultural landscape.
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