Birth and Development of the Anatomical Museums of Modena Between XVIII and XIX Century: The Obstetric Museum, the Anatomical Museum, the Ethnographic Anthropologic Museum

Abstract

The interest for the study of Anatomy in Modena was particularly developed since the second half of eighteenth century, when the Duke Francesco III of Este promoted the reformation of the University and Antonio Scarpa was called from Padua to teach Anatomy. Scarpa promoted the building of the Anatomical Theatre, near the Grande Spedale, that was inaugurated in 1776. On the same year, the School of Obstetrics opened and determined the constitution of a first Cabinet or Obstetric Museum in a room next to the Theatre. After the Restoration, between 1817 and 1818, the Archduke Francesco IV of Austria Este promoted the realization of an Anatomical Museum: a big organized room in a new floor built on the Theatre. Two more rooms were added in 1839 and a fourth one in 1853, under the direction of Paolo Gaddi. Furthermore Gaddi’s interest for ethnographic studies determined the opening of the Ethnographic Anthropological Museum in 1866.