Istituted by the ornithologist Father G. B. Fourcault in 1766, the museum originally began as the Cabinet of Animals, but over time other collections were added to this core, especially when in the second half of the nineteenth century the naturalist Pellegrino Strobel became its director. The visit path illustrates the characteristics of the natural environment of the Parma landscape and other geographical realities, displaying zoological collections gathered since the 18th century. Of particular interest are the African ethnographic collections.
The museum is organized in two locations. In the University Palace, you can admire the historic Fourcault collection from the 18th century and the Systematic Collection of Vertebrates by Angelo Andres, director of the Museum from 1899 to 1926. The latter, arranged between 1923 and 1925, includes over two thousand specimens. Also on display to the public are two collections of African ethnography, originating from Pigorini and Falzoi. Among the zoological collections, special attention deserves the “Vittorio Bottego” core, with about six hundred specimens from Eritrea, including rare corals from the Gulf of Massawa. At the Botanical Garden, several educational rooms mostly display invertebrates: mollusks, cnidarians, echinoderms, arthropods. There are also classrooms for the study of biological evolution and urban fauna. Finally, a part of the Del Prato collection, made up of specimens of Parma birdlife, and the ethnographic core, including materials from Zaire, are open to the public. Other collections, especially of invertebrates, are available only for study purposes.
Information about the Natural History Museum of Parma
Via Farini, 90,
43121 Parma (Parma)
0521033430
musnat@unipr.it
https://museodistorianaturale.unipr.it
Source: MIBACT
