La Specola: Cabinets of Cutiosity

The phrase La Specola translates into the observatory which refers to the astronomical observatory that was founded there in 1790. However, it also has a vast collection of many different specimens including crystals, exotic plants, and a taxidermy collection of animals from around the world. The museum was officially opened to the public in 1775, making itself the only scientific museum created with that purpose up until the 19th century. It functioned, and still functions like the museums we are accustomed to visiting today, which includes opening hours, guides and keepers, something that at the time was unheard of. There are 34 rooms in the museum, 24 of which are dedicated to zoology and the other 10 to the study of the human body through anatomic waxes.

The zoology section has animals from around the world preserved through the process of taxidermy. They have animals that were both acquired and hunted, including a famous hippo that was given to the Duke and lived in the Boboli Gardens. However, upon trying to preserve the hippopotamus, they did not know how it was meant to stand, because those animals had not been seen, so to this day, it incorrectly stands on flat feet instead of on its toes. The original collectors would send  hunters out to different places in the world in search of new and exotic creatures that often had never been seen before.

The animals are categorized by species: butterflies, insects, birds, primates, fish, carnivores and herbivores etc. (see image) They are arranged based on their characteristics, but theses animals would not necessarily interact with the others around them because they are from different continents.

Many of the animals, especially those from lands that extend far beyond Italy, had never been seen by people. When La Specola opened to the public it was the among the first collections to be accessible to virtually anyone, not exclusively the nobility and upper class. It was a way for everyone to take part in a learning experience much like the one that modern museums offer us today.

Prior to the opening people didn't know exactly how the body worked, unless granted special permission to dissect a corpse, which was rare, illegal in some cases. It was, in a way, one of the first forms of accessible medical school. The wax collection presents an anatomically accurate visual representation of the human body and the physiological process it undergoes. La Specola was visited by both scientists and doctors in order to better understand the human body.

Although it was scientific in purpose, the makers did not ignore the aesthetic aspect of the display. They positioned the figures in very sensual and visually appealing poses, thus presenting what might be regarded as grotesque in a more appealing and visually stimulating manner. (See image)



The collection of wax bodies and its organs is very accurate, with the exception of the development of the fetus, so people could look inside to what was going on inside the body. They have a separate room dedicated to reproduction in which they have models of a woman's body in different stages of pregnancy. It shows where the fetus develops and the way the body holds the growing baby. There is also a shelf in which they have a representation of a fetus throughout the 9 months of pregnancy, but it is inaccurate as the baby does not develop a solid structure until a few months in.

One thing that stood out was that they made models of real men's faces but the woman figures were idealized, based on the painting of Venus. The reason being that women were not meant to be seen in that manner: open figures with their organs outside of their bodies. The female body was held at a much higher esteem than a man's body, so they did not want to put them in such a gruesome and grotesque situation.

The museum also has a vast collections of crystals and minerals, collected over time from across the world. It is absolutely incredible how much variation there is and how the different elements affect the earth differently. (See image).



The observatory room, after which the museum is named, has many instruments used to study the sky and the patterns of the stars, moon, and sun. They have a room surrounded by windows and balconies that point in all directions, offering a 360 degree view of the sky.

The museum has a skeleton room in which they house the bones of different species. What I found most fascinating, and what inspired my project, was how they pieced together the bones and filled in the blanks. In other words, when presented with the skeleton of the animal, how they went about standing it upright and knowing how to represent it. There are a few traces of error in many of the animals, and yet it was presented in a way that is so sure that we have no choice but to believe it to be true. La Specola granted people access to knowledge that had been stored away in cabinets of curiosity and opened them up to expose various kinds of discoveries and explanations of the world. They allowed anyone to come in and learn and acquire the knowledge they contained. It was truly a step forward in education.