Museo della Venere e dell'elefante
Archaeological and palaeontological museum of the Civic Centre of Savignano sul Panaro, with the skeleton of a Pliocene elephant and a copy of the Palaeolithic Venus of Savignano.
Have only individual sections read aloud
About the museum
The museum arose from the discovery, in 1980, of the remains of an elephant that lived about two million years ago on the bed of the Panaro river, at Bocchirolo. The fossil, a female of the genus Mammuthus, ancestor of the species meridionalis, is one of the most important palaeontological finds in Emilia-Romagna and the only pachyderm find recovered in the Po Valley.
Around the skeleton a route covers the phylogeny of the proboscideans, with an evolutionary tree of 17 specimens of the most significant species, a cast of the Sicilian dwarf elephant Elephas falconeri and a copy of the skeleton of a giant dormouse, to illustrate the phenomena of gigantism and dwarfism.
One section is devoted to the Venus of Savignano: the museum displays a copy of the Palaeolithic sculpture found in 1924 in the nearby locality of Prà Martin. It depicts a steatopygous female figure and is today held by the Museo nazionale preistorico etnografico “Luigi Pigorini” in Rome. The museum, enlarged and reorganised, is housed in the Civic Centre.
Highlights
- Skeleton of the Pliocene elephant from the Panaro
- Evolutionary tree of the proboscideans
- Copy of the Venus of Savignano
- Cast of the Sicilian dwarf elephant Elephas falconeri
Permanent exhibition
- Percorso sui proboscidati e la Venere di Savignano – Skeleton of the Pliocene elephant from the Panaro, phylogeny of the proboscideans and a section on the Palaeolithic Venus of Savignano.
- Founded
- 1980
- Operated by
- Comune di Savignano sul Panaro
- Visitors per year
- approx. 150 (2021)
Admission & discounts
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Accessibility
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Kids & families
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Getting there & parking
The museum is located in the Civic Centre of Savignano sul Panaro, at Via Doccia 72.
Get directionsAmenities & dining
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Events & venue rental
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