The big kids and I were determined to make good use of our day so we started with a walk. Poor Annika's neck is still a bit dodgy since our last move and carrying all the heavy gear but did find some relief with Voltaren gel, which again, I had to ask for rather than just picking it off a shelf. The pharmacist seems to always be on the phone giving advice.
Leaving the big kids home to do school work (their choice), Luke, Karl and I took the train to town and walked to the Museo di Palazzo Poggi. This place was a gem, a wonderful find which at first reminded us of the Museum of Indology we stumbled across in Jaipur.
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| 18th Century collection - looked old and was! |
Housed
in the old Palazzo Poggi, built between 1549 and 1560 which was home to
Alessandro and Giovanni Poggi, the museum is a stunning building. With
exhibits at eye level and frescoes by Tibaldi on the upper walls and
ceiling it was a lovely visual mix of two different kinds of history.
In
1714, the Instituto dell Scienze of Bologna, as part of the University
of Bologna, was founded by Luigi Marsili in the Palazzo. Pope Benedict
XIV protected the collections and during the Napoleonic period, saw that
the collections were scattered among different university faculties to
keep them safe. At the end of the 20th Century the collections were
collated and again exhibited in their historic home which is what we saw
today.
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| The Moses Room |
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| Templates for biology |
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| Shell display - before the days of power points! |
The
dusty old fossil collection from 18th Century was stunning. The amount
of detail and work all hand written in neat script and mounted in
frames was far superior to any digital presentation we might see today.
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| The Sala di Susanna (1551-1552) |
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| More shells on display |
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| Luke loving the collection of shells. |
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| Salon di Davide 1552-1553 - David with Goliath's head! |
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| Narwhal's tusk |
There were rooms full of old physics
equipment, astronomical equipment, military and nautical relics and an
old library full of intriguing books locked behind doors but the best of
all, in my opinion were the obstetric and anatomical models.
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| Early microscope |
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| Always pays to look up! |
The
obstetric models, made of terracotta, were absolute works of art which
showed both normal and abnormal presentations at birth. There were at
least twenty malpositioned fetuses, a couple of placentas, some
obstetric equipment, some congenital malformations and a birth machine
(wooden chair). It was so fascinating and even now would be good 3D
teaching props for trainee midwives and obstetricians. "Wow!" isn't an
adequate expression. Of course, I do realise that not everyone is as
fascinated by the birth process as I am!
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| Term fetus |
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| Term fetus |
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| Newborn and placenta |
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| Twins! |
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| Malpresentations - all bound for caesarian sections these days |
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| Breech presentations |
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| Impossible situations |
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| Oh dear....straight to the OT for this one! |
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| Sala dei Concerti e delle Fatiche di Ercole(Hercules) 1551-1552 |
The
room adjoining the Obstetric exhibits was another anatomical display of
8 wax models, 6 male and 2 female. The male bodies were stripped in
layers to show muscles and ligaments and bones. Every physiotherapist,
chiropractor and doctor would dream of having access to such models to
understand the working of the body.
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| Public autopsy table complete with blood stains in the anatomical room. |
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| Wax hands |
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| Nautical exhibits |
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| Such detail |
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| Tiles of Captain Cook's voyages! Somehow he didn't call into Australia! |
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| 18th Century library. We saw a librarian here actually climb the ladder, unlock a door and take a book off the shelf! The books look so fragile! |
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| Voyage of Cook |
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| Ancient books |
Karl and I agreed that this museum was definitely worth a visit and a
"must do" for anyone visiting Bologna. We wandered through the
university area which comprises a series of old buildings with the
modern touch of graffiti and flyers to give it a "student flavour".
Closeby is the former Jewish Ghetto. Jews came to Bologna in early
15th Century but the Ghetto wasn't established until 16 century. As in
many places in Europe, they didn't escape Hilter's attention and many of
the Bolognese Jews ended up in Auschwitz. Today the old ghetto is a
series of narrow alleys and classic old buildings in the typical
Bolognese colours of yellows and oranges.
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| Heading out of the Jewish Ghetto |
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| The drained canal!! |
Last port of call on this particular visit to Bologna was to check out the so called hidden canals. We spotted one, but alas it had been drained! Luckily we are heading to Venice tomorrow so we'll be spoilt with canals no doubt!
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Fascinating what a find! Heading into the cup long weekend and looks like we'll be getting plenty of rain also!! Shame, was going to spend a lot of time in the garden. :/
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