Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia

For other places with the same name, see Natural History Museum (disambiguation).

View of the museum building from the Grand Canal.

Fossilized Ouranosaurus nigeriensis dinosaur skeleton at the museum.

Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia (English: Natural History Museum of Venice) is a museum of natural history housed in Fondaco dei Turchi, located on the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy. Its collection is mainly based around the nature of the Venetian lagoon that surrounds the city.

Building and history

The museum is located in the Fontego dei Turchi, originally built in the 13th century as a palazzo for the Pesaro family.^[1] It is built in the Venetian Byzantine style, being originally used as a trading depot for goods from the East.

In 1381, the building was given to the lord of Ferrara, Nicolò d’Este. In 1621, it became the "Fontego" for Turkish merchants, a place for them to live and do business, until 1838. From 1865, the building was extensively restored. After this work, it housed the Museo Correr and then the Natural History Museum from 1923.

Museum

The Natural History Museum in Venice was founded in 1923 to hold and display a number of scientific collections from the Museo Correr, the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere e Arti, etc.^[1] This has subsequently been expanded, with around two million objects in the collection. These cover botanical, entomological, and zoological specimens, fossils, and ethnographic collections. The library has over 40,000 books.

The museum is run by the Fondazione Musei Civici Venezia (MUVE).^[2]

See also

• Fondaco dei Turchi
• MUVE

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "The building and history". Natural History Museum. MUVE, Venice, Italy. http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?pid=51&musid=5&sezione=musei. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 
2. ^ "Natural History Museum". MUVE, Venice, Italy. http://www.museiciviciveneziani.it/frame.asp?musid=5&sezione=musei. Retrieved 2 September 2011. 

External links

• Museum website