A visit to the museum of natural history of the Collegio Convitto Celana

The two posters on the walls at the entrance mark the begining of your visit. The first one illustrates Prof. Bernardino Gavazzeni’s biography, he taught here and the museum has been dedicated to him; the second one illustrates the preparation of the museum during the first years of the last century.

The specimen of the brown bear (Ursus arctos) is in this corridor, it was captured in Primaluna in Valsassina far back in 1886, it was taxidermied by Mr. Carlo Vercelloni from Lecco, and then bought by Collegio Celana.

The bear was restored by Mr. Bianchi Ermano in 1998, he is a taxidermist of the Natural History Museum of Milan, thanks to the contribution of the Cliniche Gavazzeni (a private clinic) and “La Provincia di Bergamo” (the Public Administration of the district).

The brown bear is very important because it is one of the last few specimens of being killed in Bergamo district, and its hunting is documented. It was very difficult, indeed, to find a brown bear, especially one with  all its limbs. Actually –by tradition- the hunter had to cut off one limb to show it as proof in order to cash the reward.

Continuing the visit you enter the room where the four volumes of Don Luigi Sacchi’s herbarium are kept. He was the parish of Olate di Lecco during the second half of the XIX century.

Photograph n°2: the four volumes of Sacchi’s herbarium.

Being very fragile, the herbarium can be consulted only for studying.

In the same room there is an exhibition of about fifty mushrooms made in wood, paper, leather and wax, by Giovanni Stefanini. They date back to the turn of the last century.

Photograph n°3: a mushroom made by Giovanni Stefanini.

It is interesting to notice that the mushrooms are numbered following the order of the iconographical tables enclosed in the book: Descrizione dei Funghi mangerecci più comuni dell’Italia e dè velenosi che possono cò medesimi confondersi (Description of the most common edible or poisonous mushrooms of Italy) by Carlo Vittadini, 1835.

Photograph n°4: the volumes about mushrooms by Carlo Vittadini.

The following room is prepared for an exhibition of minerals, rocks and fossils.

Cupboard number fifty contains specimens that date back to the Palaeozoic era, pteridophytes belonging to the genus Calamites, Carboniferous, can be seen. Cupboard number fourty-nine contains specimens dating back to the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous, a lot of them picked up in Monte Albenza, close to Celana and in the Pre-Alpine area of Bergamo.

On the shelf at the bottom of the same case there are some fossils of the vertebrate fauna of the Quaternary, picked up in Bergamo. Among them there’s a Bison horn, the cranium and a piece of tusk that belong to Elephas, they are all from Petosino; there’s also a cranium of a Cervus elaphus from Zandobbio.

In the same room you can watch severals specimens of minerals and rocks; they are divided in three different cupboards, one of them is only for silicates.

The rocks are exhibited in the cupboard number fourty-eight and, on a table nearby, there are several kinds of the same specimens used as building material.

In the main hall, developed on three naves, you can see vertebrate and invertebrate fauna.

Along the first nave you find several cupboards that contain a lot of mammals and birds specimens. Especially in cupboard number thirty-seven, there are exotic mammals, among them it is important to point out an Armadillo, an Ornithorhynchus, some felines, some South-American specimens carnivourous mammals pertaining to the family Mustelidae (mustelids), and some monkeys.

Some of these specimens date back between the end of the ninth century and the begining of the twentieth century, sometimes you can find a note that refers to their origin.

It is amazing to think that at the end of the ninth century you could watch an Ornithorhynchus from the far land of Australia, or a South-American Armadillo in Celana.

On the shelves at the bottom you can watch some specimens of  reptiles and amphibians dried and taxidermied, as to say dressed hide and filled with sawdust and plaster.

The cupboard number thirty-eight contains European mammal specimens, in this instance the specimens also date back to the end of the ninetenth century. It is remarkable to notice that there are a fox from Bering Isle and an otter, both dated 1898. The otter brings the name of the giver on a note. There’s also a big specimen of  badger probably from places in the neighbourhood.

Photograph n°5: an otter specimen (lutra lutra)

Between these two cupboards, and in front of them there’s a fine theca, it is numbered thirty-six. It contains about thirty exotic birds in shining colours from Africa and South-America.

Always on this side the amazing sight continues with a fine theca shaped like an aviary with a lot of branches full of multicolour avifauna. Among them it is to notice for its beauty a bird of paradise from Japan.

On the shelf at the bottom of this theca there’s a young specimen of a swan from Holland.

Photograph n°6: exotic birds on a branch

On the same side there’s a specimen of a crane, which brings a note that says that it was taxidermied by Enrico Bonomi, an expert and skilled taxidermist in Milan.

Walking ahead you can see another big theca, this one contains a fine specimen of  a Royal Eagle and some hawks.

The eagle brings a note with the year, 1901, and the names of the givers, Mr. Fondra and Berera.

Photograph n°7: Royal Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)

The map of the museum

  Ingresso= Entrance; Uscita di sicurezza=Emergency exit

  1. Theca of the brown bear;

2-3. Lions;

4. Hyena;

5. Royal Tiger;

6. Antelope;

7. Koodoo;

8. Wapiti deer;

9. Kangaroo;

10. Goat;

11. Siamese lambkin;

12. Fallow deer;

13. Roe deer;

14. Chamois;

15. Mouflon;

16. Wild boar;

17. Common seal;

18. Zebra from Grevy;

19-20. Gazelles;

21-24. Crocodiles;

22. Nandu;

23. Ostriches;

25. Camel;

26-27. Snakes;

28-29. Ant-eaters;

30. Skeletons;

31. Theca stilt-birds, ducks and specimens of the family Anatidae;

32-35-36. Exotic birds;

33-40. Raptorials;

34. Crane;

37. Exotic mammals;

38. European mammals;

39. European birds;

41. Snakes and amphibians;

42. Sponges;

43. Turtle;

44. Shells;

45. Minerals;

46. Silicates;

47. Carved rocks;

48. Rocks;

49-50. Fossils;

51. Copies of mushrooms;

52. Herbariums;

53. Meteorological station.

The theca of the Royal Eagle serves as an introduction to the local and European avifauna, which are in the front cupboard, number thirty-nine; in this cupboard you can find several interesting specimens, for example: a chough (Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax), a roller (Coracias garrulus), two specimens of chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs), and a tree-pipit (Anthus trivialis) with an anomalous plumage.

The following cupboard, number fourty, contains some more noctural and diurnal raptorials. Among them there are four rare vultures: a lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus) or beared vulture, and a griffon, it is surely amazing the specimen of a Royal Owl (Bubo), it is stuffed in an aggressive attitude. There’s also an Owl swamp.

Photograph n°8: a lammergeyer (Gypaetus barbatus)

Photograph n° 9: griffon (Gyps fulvus)

In the front theca, number thirty-one, some stilt-birds are exhibited, and some ducks and specimens of the family Anatidae too, among them a black stork is very interesting, it is from Albania, near it there are two bitterns captured in Ponte S. Pietro, along the river Brembo.

The theca number thirty two is smaller and contains exotic birds, among them two birds of paradise, some hummingbirds, and some specimens of nectarinia in very shining colours.

At the end of the nave you can see an ostrich, and a nandu, both live in the wide African and South-American prairie. Behind them there’s an old African crocodile and a camel.

The end of the main nave is dominated by the zebra from the Grevy and three gazelles (Gazella dorcas).

Photograph n°10: Zebra from the Grevy (Equus grevy)

In the middle of the corridor there’s an African crocodile and two giant  South-American ant-eater. They seem to stand on guard while waiting for visitors to admire their beauty.

Between the columns that divide the main nave from the side-aisle, theca number thirty is located. It contains several anatomical parts, some fish skeletons, amphibians, reptiles, and mammals. On the theca there’s a big skeleton of a lion dated 1895.

From the end of the side-aisle you can observe two lions, one hyena, and next to them a fine Royal Tiger taxidermied by Carlo Vercelloni, the same taxidermist who embalmed the brown bear.

Walking along the side-aisle you can see two rare specimens from Africa, an equinae antelope that brings a note which says it is from Keren, Ethiopia, next to it a large African antelope, a Koodoo (Kudu); a few steps ahead there’s a fine specimen of a North-American male wapiti deer.

At the end of our visit you can notice the presence of a fine Kangaroo, it brings the note that says it is from New Holland, 1892, near it there are several specimen of ungulates, for example some siamese lambkins, a chamois, captured in Novate Mezzola in 1910, a wild boar, a mouflon. The wild boar and the muflon brings two funny notes in which their Italian names sounds very odd: “Cignale” and “Muffione”.

The end of our visit is dedicated to some sea-finds; you can see some malacological specimen, of about five hundred and fifty species. Nearby there’s a little theca filled with several species of porifera, sponges.

Some skeletons of the mouth of sawfishes are also quite interesting, there’s a fine specimen of a common seal and above all a fine turtle dated 1893.

On the shelf at the bottom there are several specimens of fishes and fresh-water fishes, dried taxidermied.

At the end of your tour of the museum, if you like you can still have the chance of watching many other interesting historic objects, they are in the corridor near the main hall of the college. There you can find many show-cases that contain some didactic instruments belonged to the physics laboratory, each show-case has a note that explain how they were used.

Among them there are severals instruments for the land surveying, they date back to the end of the ninth century, there are also notes and guidelines for practical use of these tools. You can see instruments for practical experiments of optics, electromagnetism, mechanics and acoustics.

Photograph n°11: show-case that contains an old tacheometer by Salmoiraghi.

Last but not least, in a big hall near the library, there’s a fine globe made by Giacomo Cantelli in 1694, he was cartographer for the Estensi family. The globe has just been restored. This globe is the unique –namely the only one- of all those made by the famous Cantelli, that has survived during the years.

Visitors are allowed on visits upon reservation.

Photograph n°12: the museum nowadays.

Text written by:

Rivellini Giambattista, Valsecchi Luigi, Cremaschi Giuseppe

  Photographs:

Studio Da Re Bergamo (museum and tacheometer)

Giorgio Pasinetti, restorer (the globe)

Collegio Celana’s archives (for the photograph on the cover)

Translation by: Prof. Barbara Agazzi  (sincerest thanks are due to Prof. Diego Vezzoli for his kind help and precious advice)

Photograph n°13: The globe by Giacomo Cantelli, 1694.

Restored by Giorgio Pasinetti, thanks to the contribution of Banca Popolare di Bergamo Credito Varesino.