The Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano (Milan Natural History Museum) is a museum in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, Italy. It was founded in 1838 when naturalist Giuseppe de Cristoforis donated his collections to the city. Its first director was

Giorgio Jan ''Tantilla'' is a large genus of harmless New World snakes in the family Colubridae. The genus includes 66 species, which are commonly known as centipede snakes, blackhead snakes, and flathead snakes.Wilson, Larry David. 1982. Tantilla.' ...

. The Museum is located within a 19th-century building in the Indro Montanelli Garden, near the historic city gate of

Porta Venezia Porta Venezia (formerly known as Porta Orientale, Porta Renza and by other names) is one of the historical gates of the city of Milan, Italy. In its present form, the gate dates back to the 19th century; nevertheless, its origins can be traced ba ...

. The structure was built between 1888 and 1893 in

Neo-Romanesque Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

style with

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

elements. The museum is divided into five different permanent sections: Mineralogy (with a large collection of

minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...

from all over the world); Paleontology (with several

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

s and other prehistoric organisms); Natural History of Man (dedicated to the origins and evolution of humans with a particular attention to the relationship of the latter with the environment); Invertebrate Zoology (dedicated to

mollusks Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

arthropods Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chitin, ...

and

entomology Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as ara ...

); and Vertebrate Zoology (dedicated to vertebrates, both exotic and European). The museum also exhibits the largest Italian collection of full size dioramas (over 100) that allow visitors to observe some peculiar aspects of various ecosystems.

Mineralogy section

The mineralogy section showcases several minerals from all over the world including the world's largest sulfur crystal (from the

province of Pesaro-Urbino The Province of Pesaro and Urbino ( it, Provincia di Pesaro e Urbino, ) is a province in the Marche region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pesaro. It also borders the state of San Marino. The province is surrounded by San Marino and E ...

) and an 8,000 carat Brazilian

topaz Topaz is a silicate mineral of aluminium and fluorine with the chemical formula Al Si O( F, OH). It is used as a gemstone in jewelry and other adornments. Common topaz in its natural state is colorless, though trace element impurities can mak ...

crystal. Also displayed are examples of londonite, quarz,

phosgenite Phosgenite is a rare mineral consisting of lead chlorocarbonate, (PbCl)2CO3. The tetragonal crystals are prismatic or tabular in habit: they are usually colorless and transparent, and have a brilliant adamantine lustre. Sometimes the crystals ...

fluorite Fluorite (also called fluorspar) is the mineral form of calcium fluoride, CaF2. It belongs to the halide minerals. It crystallizes in isometric cubic habit, although octahedral and more complex isometric forms are not uncommon. The Mohs sca ...

malachite Malachite is a copper carbonate hydroxide mineral, with the formula Cu2CO3(OH)2. This opaque, green-banded mineral crystallizes in the monoclinic crystal system, and most often forms botryoidal, fibrous, or stalagmitic masses, in fracture ...

and other minerals.

Paleontology section

This section explains the basics of

paleozoology Palaeozoology, also spelled as Paleozoology ( Greek: παλαιόν, ''palaeon'' "old" and ζῷον, ''zoon'' "animal"), is the branch of paleontology, paleobiology, or zoology dealing with the recovery and identification of multicellular a ...

and

paleobotany Paleobotany, which is also spelled as palaeobotany, is the branch of botany dealing with the recovery and identification of plant remains from geological contexts, and their use for the biological reconstruction of past environments (paleogeog ...

. Displays include fossils of several plants and animals. Among the most valuable pieces are a

Spinosaurus ''Spinosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of spinosaurid dinosaur that lived in what now is North Africa during the Cenomanian to upper Turonian stages of the Late Cretaceous period, about 99 to 93.5 million years ago. The genus was known first f ...

snout, the skeletons of two pygmy elephants (''Palaeoloxodon falconeri'') from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

and the only existing fossil of the

coelurosauria Coelurosauria (; from Greek, meaning "hollow tailed lizards") is the clade containing all theropod dinosaurs more closely related to birds than to carnosaurs. Coelurosauria is a subgroup of theropod dinosaurs that includes compsognathids, t ...

n theropod ''Scipionix samniticus''. The museum also houses several other casts of dinosaur skeletons such as ''

Allosaurus ''Allosaurus'' () is a genus of large carnosaurian theropod dinosaur that lived 155 to 145 million years ago during the Late Jurassic epoch ( Kimmeridgian to late Tithonian). The name "''Allosaurus''" means "different lizard" alludin ...

'', ''

Stegosaurus ''Stegosaurus'' (; ) is a genus of herbivorous, four-legged, armored dinosaur from the Late Jurassic, characterized by the distinctive kite-shaped upright plates along their backs and spikes on their tails. Fossils of the genus have been fou ...

'', '' Dromaeosaurus'', '' Plateosaurus'', and

Stan (dinosaur) "Stan", also known by its inventory number BHI 3033, is a ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' fossil found in the Hell Creek Formation in South Dakota, just outside of Buffalo in 1987, and excavated in 1992. It is the fifth most complete '' T. rex'' fossil d ...

, the fifth most complete

Tyrannosaurus ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropoda, theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosa ...

ever found.

Natural history of man section

This section is dedicated to the origins of

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...

s from early

primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter includin ...

s to ''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture ...

''. Human evolution is described from the

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups ...

, morphological and

ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

points of view with several archaeological objects and realistic plastic models. One of the most valuable pieces is the cast of an ''

Australopithecus afarensis ''Australopithecus afarensis'' is an extinct species of australopithecine which lived from about 3.9–2.9 million years ago (mya) in the Pliocene of East Africa. The first fossils were discovered in the 1930s, but major fossil finds would no ...

'' skeleton.

Invertebrate Zoology section

This section is divided in two exhibitions. The first is about

and

arthropod Arthropods (, (gen. ποδός)) are invertebrate animals with an exoskeleton, a segmented body, and paired jointed appendages. Arthropods form the phylum Arthropoda. They are distinguished by their jointed limbs and cuticle made of chiti ...

s: displays include a giant clam, which is the largest living

bivalve Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class (biology), class of marine and freshwater Mollusca, molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hing ...

, two

Japanese spider crab The Japanese spider crab (''Macrocheira kaempferi'') is a species of marine crab that lives in the waters around Japan. It has the largest known leg-span of any arthropod. It goes through three main larval stages along with a prezoeal stage to gr ...

s (male and female), ''

Scolopendra gigantea ''Scolopendra gigantea'', also known as the Peruvian giant yellow-leg centipede or Amazonian giant centipede, is a centipede in the genus '' Scolopendra''. It is the largest centipede species in the world, with a length exceeding .PDFTandof onlin ...

'', and

arachnid Arachnida () is a class of joint-legged invertebrate animals (arthropods), in the subphylum Chelicerata. Arachnida includes, among others, spiders, scorpions, ticks, mites, pseudoscorpions, harvestmen, camel spiders, whip spiders and vinegar ...

s like many

spider Spiders (order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...

s and

scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always en ...

s from all over the world. The second exhibition is dedicated to

and displays many insects.

Vertebrate Zoology section

On the second floor of the building is the

vertebrate zoology The State Museum of Zoology (german: Staatliches Museum für Tierkunde) in Dresden is a natural history museum that houses 10,000–50,000 specimens, including skeletons and large insect collections. Many are types. The collection suffered war ...

section: this section displays many

taxidermied Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body via mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the proce ...

animals from both Europe and abroad, and many animal skeletons including that of a

sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

that measures approximately twelve metres in length. There are also many full-scale dioramas with mounted specimens displayed in realistic settings. The collection is notable for about 30 primary types of

reptiles Reptiles, as most commonly defined are the animals in the class Reptilia ( ), a paraphyletic grouping comprising all sauropsids except birds. Living reptiles comprise turtles, crocodilians, squamates ( lizards and snakes) and rhynchoceph ...

, many of which have been described by the museum's first director,

, who is also one of the most prolific herpetologists of all time with about 100 reptile species described.

Directors of the museum

*1838–1866

*1866–1882

Emilio Cornalia Emilio Cornalia (25 August 1824 – 8 June 1882) was an Italian naturalist. Treccani. He was born in Milan and died in the same city. He was conservator from 1851 to 1866, and director from 1866 till his death, of the Milan Museum of Natural H ...

*1882–1891

Antonio Stoppani Antonio Stoppani towards the end of his life Antonio Stoppani (24 August 18241 January 1891) was an Italian Catholic priest, patriot, geologist and palaeontologist. He studied the geology of the Italian region and wrote a popular treatise, ''Il B ...

*1892–1911 *1911–1927 *1928–1951 Bruno Parisi *1951–1964 Edgardo Moltoni *1964–1981 Cesare Conci *1981–1994 Giovanni Pinna *1994–2001 *2001–2010 Enrico Banfi *2010–2012 *since 2012 Domenico Piraina

Gallery

File:Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano - Il ragazzo di nariokotome.JPG,

Turkana Boy Turkana Boy, also called Nariokotome Boy, is the name given to fossil KNM-WT 15000, a nearly complete skeleton of a ''Homo ergaster'' youth who lived 1.5 to 1.6 million years ago. This specimen is the most complete early hominin skeleton ever ...

(''

Homo ergaster ''Homo ergaster'' is an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Africa in the Early Pleistocene. Whether ''H. ergaster'' constitutes a species of its own or should be subsumed into '' H. erectus'' is an ongoing and unresol ...

'') file:Cranio dell'uomo di cro-magnon - quaternario (Francia) - Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano.JPG, A

Cro-Magnon Early European modern humans (EEMH), or Cro-Magnons, were the first early modern humans (''Homo sapiens'') to settle in Europe, migrating from Western Asia, continuously occupying the continent possibly from as early as 56,800 years ago. They i ...

skull from France File:9133 - Milano - Museo storia naturale - Zolfo - Foto Giovanni Dall'Orto 22-Apr-2007.jpg,

Sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formul ...

crystals File:Museo di storia naturale milano 01.JPG, Pygmy elephant skeletons File:Museo di scienza naturale milano - eryops megacephalus.JPG, Eryops megacephalus File:Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano - scipionyx samniticus.JPG, ''Scipionyx samniticus'' File:Tirannosauro milano4.JPG, A ''

Tyrannosaurus rex ''Tyrannosaurus'' is a genus of large theropod dinosaur. The species ''Tyrannosaurus rex'' (''rex'' meaning "king" in Latin), often called ''T. rex'' or colloquially ''T-Rex'', is one of the best represented theropods. ''Tyrannosaurus'' live ...

'' File:DSC01699 Gliptodonte - Quaternario - Museo di storia naturale, Milano - Foto di G. Dall'Orto - 20-12-2006.jpg, A '' Glyptodon'' File:Scheletro di capodoglio - Museo civico di storia naturale di Milano.JPG,

Sperm whale The sperm whale or cachalot (''Physeter macrocephalus'') is the largest of the toothed whales and the largest toothed predator. It is the only living member of the genus ''Physeter'' and one of three extant species in the sperm whale famil ...

skeleton. File:Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Milano - Granchio gigante del giappone.JPG,

s File:DSC01675 Diorama orso Groenlandia, Milano - Foto di G. Dall'Orto - 20-12-2006.jpg, Mounted

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear spec ...

s in a diorama

References

External links

Official website of the museum
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Museo Civico Di Storia Naturale Di Milan Natural history museums in Italy Fossil museums Anthropology museums Museums in Milan Paleontology in Italy 1838 establishments in the Austrian Empire Museums established in 1838 Tourist attractions in Milan