Museo di Anatomia comparata "Battista Grassi"

About the museum

The museum is part of the Polo museale della Sapienza Università di Roma (museum network of Sapienza University of Rome) and is housed in the Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “C. Darwin”, in Via Borelli. Its origins date back to 1805, when a Museum of Mineralogy and Natural History was established at the Archiginnasio of Sapienza. Some of the objects kept here also come from the collections assembled in the 17th century by the Jesuit Athanasius Kircher at the Collegio Romano, which were dispersed after the confiscation of church property following 1870.

The collection includes skeletons and anatomical preparations of vertebrates, histology instruments, comparative anatomy teaching material and a section on cetaceans. The route compares the anatomical structures of fish, reptiles, birds and mammals, up to primates and the great cetaceans, showing the similarities between the different vertebrate groups.

One room is named after the zoologist Battista Grassi and holds memorabilia, manuscripts and a collection of antique instruments for microscopic observation, from the Leeuwenhoek-type microscope to modern electron microscopes. The museum also holds the Grassi archive, covering the years 1878–1933.

Highlights

• Skeleton of a fin whale (balenottera comune) 22 metres long, stranded on the Tyrrhenian coast in 1866
• Sperm whale skeleton at the centre of the cetacean room
• Room dedicated to Battista Grassi, with manuscripts and memorabilia
• Collection of antique microscopes, from Leeuwenhoek-type to electron microscopes
• Anatomical preparations of vertebrates, from fish to primates

Permanent exhibition

• Collezione di anatomia comparata – Skeletons and preparations of vertebrates, a section on cetaceans and a room dedicated to Battista Grassi with period microscopy instruments.

Operated by

Sapienza Università di Roma – Polo museale

Director

Mattia Toni

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Getting there & parking

The museum is in the Dipartimento di Biologia e Biotecnologie “C. Darwin”, at Via Borelli 50, near the Città Universitaria.

Amenities & dining

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