The Zoological Museum of Naples, located in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, south

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, was founded by Gioacchino Murat in 1811. The first

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

was Luigi Petagna. The founding collections were those of the Royal Bourbon Museum and the private collection of

Giuseppe Saverio Poli Giuseppe Saverio Poli (26 October 17467 April 1825) was an Italian physicist, biologist and natural historian. His collections, together with those stored in the Royal Bourbon Museum, were the foundation of the Zoological Museum of Naples. T ...

. Later curators were:

Giosuè Sangiovanni Giosuè Edoard Sangiovanni (15 January 1775 – 17 May 1849) was an Italian zoologist, the first professor of comparative anatomy in Italy and an early exponent of evolution. Born at Laurino in the kingdom of Naples, he followed his education in p ...

Achille Costa Achille Costa (10 August 1823, Lecce – 17 November 1899 Rome) was an Italian zoologist working mainly in entomology who was appointed director of the Zoological Museum of Naples. He founded the entomological collections in Naples and describe ...

(from 1860), Francesco Saverio Monticelli (from 1900). the museum was badly damaged in the Second World War but with Mario Salfi as Curator, it was restored between 1948 and 1970. The museum is part of the

University of Naples Federico II The University of Naples Federico II ( it, Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II) is a public university in Naples, Italy. Founded in 1224, it is the oldest public non-sectarian university in the world, and is now organized into 26 depar ...

as Centro Musei delle Scienze Naturali. Se
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External links

Official Site
(Italian) Natural history museums in Italy Museums in Naples Museums established in 1811 1811 establishments in the Kingdom of Naples 1811 establishments in Italy Joachim Murat {{Italy-museum-stub