Photo: StefanoB93 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Museo di Anatomia Umana "Filippo Civinini"

University museum in the Scuola Medica of Pisa with 19th-century anatomical preparations, wax and plaster models, and Egyptian and pre-Columbian mummies.

Opening hoursAdmission €2.50

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About the museum

The museum grew out of the anatomical cabinet started by Tommaso Biancini in 1829 and continued by Filippo Civinini, who turned it into a teaching collection of preparations; in 1842 his catalogue listed 1,327 pieces. It was officially inaugurated in 1839.

In 1874 the collections were moved to their present location, in the Scuola Medica, a few metres from the Piazza dei Miracoli. In 1944 the flood caused by retreating German troops blowing up the Arno embankments severely damaged many preparations. The museum was restored and renewed around 2002.

Today it includes preparations of descriptive and topographic anatomy (osteology, angiology, splanchnology, embryology), models in wax, plaster and papier-mâché, the anatomical plates of Paolo Mascagni, and archaeological collections: two Egyptian mummies from Thebes, one with its sarcophagus, which arrived with a Franco-Tuscan expedition in the 19th century, and about 121 pre-Columbian funerary objects from the Chimú and Chancay cultures, brought from Peru by Carlo Regnoli, together with two mummies.

Highlights

19th-century anatomical preparations by Civinini
Anatomical models in wax, plaster and papier-mâché
Colour anatomical plates by Paolo Mascagni
Egyptian mummies with sarcophagus from Thebes
Pre-Columbian funerary objects from the Chimú and Chancay cultures

Permanent exhibition

Collezioni anatomiche e archeologiche – Anatomical preparations, wax and plaster models, Mascagni's plates, Egyptian mummies and pre-Columbian funerary objects.

Founded: 1832
Operated by: Università di Pisa (Sistema museale di Ateneo)
Visitors per year: approx. 3,552