Playing the tourist – part 1
Monday, June 9th, 2014
Since my volunteer work has now concluded I decided I’d take a little time and do some more touristy stuff. That’s usually not my thing. I’d rather go into a hardware store in another country than into a church. New stuff in each one with it’s own type of fascination. Still I was feeling guilty about not having gone to more significant tourist places. The first stop was was one of the older parts of the University of Bologna. It’s called the Archiginnasio (I have no idea where that comes from) and was the first unified seat of the Bologna. The university itself was founded in 1088 but they finally got around to constructing a building to house it in the 1560s and it stayed that way for 250 years or so before significant further expansion. Now it is mostly a library which houses a huge volume of historically significant documents.
There are said to be 7000 coats of arms which were reserved for students of special standing.
Walls lined with coats of arms
More coats of arms and decorative ceiling
It also still houses the the anatomical theater which is quite spectacular. It is built entirely of wood and the present one is a meticulous reconstruction of the original which was heavily damaged by an errant allied bomb near the end of WWII. Unfortunate shit does happen, especially in times of war.
Anatomy table
Skinless guys near the lecture podium
Several statues on the walls of prominent physicians of the era and more ancient times – roman and greek
Incredible ceiling – this is just one small part
