The Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio, the seat of the oldest municipal library, a treasure chest of wonders – with its Anatomical Theater and the largest existing heraldic mural complex that has aroused the admiration of visitors and scholars of all time – is celebrating its birthday.
It was inaugurated on 21 October 1563, to give a unitary seat to the university teachings.
On the occasion of this anniversary, the Institution of libraries offers the hundreds of thousands of people who visit tourists and citizens every year to visit a new coordinated set of information tools, designed to easily describe the building and its main attractions.
In the loggia there is an exhibition entitled “Augustissima Musarum domicilia”, open until December and realized with photographic panels. The exhibition, which will be repeated in the intervals between the temporary exhibitions, illustrates the wonders of the Palazzo and in particular the complex of 6,000 coats of arms, the main “Memories”, monuments dedicated to famous people, the Anatomical Theater, designed in the XVIIth century for the public anatomy lessons and the Stabat Mater Room which takes its name from the first Italian representation of the liturgical sequence in music by Gioacchino Rossini.
A new website is online at http://bimu.comune.bologna.it/biblioweb/palazzo-archiginnasio/, full of useful information for visitors, suitable for use on mobile devices, also reachable with a QR code, with a new audio guide in Italian.
Finally, new multimedia installations dedicated to the coats of arms, the Anatomical Theater, the Stabat Mater Room and the many other architectural and historical riches of the building will be freely accessible to all also thanks to a new interactive totem placed in the upper loggia.
