ANIMALS, PLANTS, ROCKS AND MINERALS: THE ISPRA COLLECTIONS > A MULTISPECIES MUSEUM

Animals, Plants, Rocks and Minerals: the ISPRA Collections > A Multispecies Museum is the result of a joint effort by the Museum of Civilizations and ISPRA, the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, and completes the permanent museum display of the ISPRA collections at the Museum of Civilizations.

The presentation in the Hall of Sciences is conceived as a taxonomy and introduction to the history, interdisciplinary research methods, and museographic logics – between the 19^th and 21^st centuries – of all the ISPRA collections, also recovering and restoring the historic furnishings from previous displays. The visit itinerary is integrated on the second floor with the activation of a series of in-depth exhibition spaces, educational classrooms, and accessible deposits, which will also be integrated into the visit itinerary of the prehistoric and protohistoric collections of the Museum of Civilizations.

The ISPRA collections comprise over 150,000 findings: animal and plant fossils, rocks and minerals, geological surveys, scientific instrumentation, busts, portraits, relics, and documentation that formed the Collections of the former Geological Service of Italy. The Historical Collections now occupy the area outside the Hall, while in the Hall, the Paleontological ones are distributed in the areas to the left and right, and, finally, the Litho-Mineralogical ones are installed on new lithotheques and metal grills on the sides. Considered together, these collections document the work of the scholars who participated in Italian unification campaigns, held political office and, in accordance with the scientific principles and methodologies of the 19^th century, they contributed to the better knowledge of the Italian territory and its geological and natural history. They also assigned science an indispensable role in the birth of a modern national industry and placed human beings and their control over the natural environment at the center of historical and social development processes.

At the Museum of Civilizations, these collections become the possible premise for a new multi-species museum, which highlights the stratifications and geological dynamism of our planet, the continuous transformations of territories and environments, the origin and diversification of living species, as well as their forms of co-existence and inter-action. By also drawing stimuli from animal, mineral, and plant species, the exhibition of these collections lays as well the foundations for a reflection on the extreme fragility of natural ecosystems in which we, human beings, also live together, inviting us to question ourselves about the sustainability (for how long?) of our ecological strain on them.

Linking earth sciences, humanities and social sciences, speculative thought, and art, the collections will be put into action by public programs and contemporary interventions that propose unprecedented perspectives and imaginary dialogues between species, suggesting new ways of experiencing the specimens on display and entwining their stories with the climatic and geological urgencies of today.