Palazzo Archiginnasio

The Archiginnasio of Bologna is one of the most interesting buildings in the city. Located in the heart of the historic centre, it currently houses the Anatomical Theatre and the Municipal Library of the same name. The building, conceived in the climate of the Council of Trent, was intended to provide a single seat for university teaching. Since 1838, after being used for a few years as a primary school, it has housed the Municipal Library, the largest in Emilia-Romagna, which today holds important works in history, philosophy, politics, literature, art, biography and bibliography, as well as an extensive section dedicated to Bolognese culture. Among other treasures, it holds around 35,000 manuscripts and incunabula. The building opens onto a courtyard with a long portico of 30 arches, whose vaults are decorated with the coats of arms of the masters and students who attended the Alma Mater over the centuries. From the courtyard, two grand staircases lead to the upper floor, home to the Library (made up of 10 former lecture halls, not open to tourists) and the Anatomical Theatre, built in carved wood by Antonio Paolocci, known as “il Levanti” in 1637 for the teaching of anatomy. Inside are Ercole Lelli’s famous “Spellati” (Skinned Men) statues. Also on the first floor, at either end of the building, are two great halls considered among the most characteristic rooms of the old university: the Jurists’ hall, named Stabat Mater in memory of the first performance, in 1842, of Gioachino Rossini’s Stabat Mater conducted by Gaetano Donizetti, and the Artists’ hall (now the Library’s reading room).