Museo di storia naturale Aquilegia

Natural history museum in Masullas with 600 square metres of displays on the geology, minerals, fossils and biodiversity of Sardinia.

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About the museum

The Aquilegia Natural History Museum is located in Masullas, in the town's museum hub (Polo museale), in Via San Francesco. The exhibition occupies around 600 square metres along a route that follows the chronology of the geological and biological events that led the planet, through slow but continuous changes, to the evolution of living things and their environments.

Visitors see the most significant finds from Sardinia's ancient mines, now part of the Parco geominerario storico e ambientale della Sardegna, recognised by UNESCO. Starting from 2.5 billion years ago, the route is organised by geological epoch. It focuses mainly on the treasures of Sardinia's subsoil, minerals and fossils, on the various phases in which the island was formed and on the long journey that brought it to the centre of the Mediterranean.

Among the many minerals formed underground more than 500 million years ago, and among the fossils on display, stands out the very rare Apateon, the oldest amphibian fossil in Italy, which lived 250 million years ago on the shores of a lake inside the island. The museum also offers educational workshops and geological, faunal, botanical and landscape excursions in the area, including in the geomining park.

Highlights

Route of around 600 m² from the formation of the Earth to biodiversity
Minerals from ancient Sardinian mines
Apateon fossil, the oldest amphibian in Italy
Collections of minerals, fossils and natural history specimens
Educational workshops and excursions in the area

Permanent exhibition

Percorso di storia naturale – Chronological route of around 600 m² on geological and biological events, minerals from Sardinian mines and fossils, including the Apateon.