On Sunday at the natural history museum of Venice

Natural History Museum of Venice. There are some museums I have always wanted to visit, but I haven’t visited yet, and there are still in my things-to-do-slowly-list.

Among them there’s the Natural History Museum of Venice, which I had the chance the visit on a Sunday I had nothing to do. And now I’m writing this post to suggest that you all should visit it, because it’s amazing.

This month “On Sunday at the museum” is dedicated to the Natural History Museum of Venice, which from now on I will call the Wunderkammer (the Cabinet of Wonder) of this city.

The Natural History Museum of Venice originated from the donation of Teodoro Correr, the same Venetian nobleman who allowed the birth of the civic collection of works of art of Venice which I described in the post “On Sunday at the Museo Correr”.
The former core of the museum collection was made up of various finds collected by Teodoro himself throughout his life and which he himself made available to scholars.
The core was composed of manuscripts, prints, paintings, books, silver and ivory objects, antiques and naturalistic collections, which later entered the collections of the city of Venice. It was later expanded through acquisitions and especially through donations coming from other collections.

Today the scientific heritage features over 2 million finds arranged in a spectacular and surprising itinerary.
After the encounter with a giant dinosaur skeleton, you will begin a journey through the history of the birth and evolution of our planet and its living things. Then, the tour will illustrate the life of the explorers who donated their collections to Venice, composed of remains of ancient civilizations, exotic animals and any kind of marvels.
In each room you can discover something new, and you look forward to going to the next room to follow the itinerary made up of adventurers, rare and almost mythical animals.

The Natural History Museum is housed in the Palazzo called “Fontego dei Turchi” because since the 17^th century this building was reserved for Turkish merchants in Venice. The palazzo overlooks the Grand Canal, where it has a door for loading and unloading goods.
Turkish merchants imported to Venice especially wax, oil, raw wool and hides and, since the 18^th century, also tobacco.
All the goods were stored in this palace. The building served also as a home for the Turkish traders, and there was also a large room reserved for a mosque, with a bathroom for religious rites.

Since 1923 the building houses the Natural History Museum and is capable of telling extraordinary stories.