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On the 13th of December 2011, the Civic Museum of Natural History and the Children's Library were opened in a new seat at Palazzo Affaitati. For the scientific section, this is not something new: in fact, the original core of the museum, like other sections of the Museums' System of Cremona, is represented by a legacy of Ala Ponzone. This legacy is quite important because Giuseppe Sigismondo (1761-1842) was not only a collector, but also a naturalist and a preparer. This first part of the collection was then completed by other collections donated mainly by local naturalists. The scientific collections then followed the events lived by the Civic Museum Ala-Ponzone opened in the same year in the homonymous palace in 1888, and transferred later to Palazzo Affaitati-Ugolani Dati were it was opened to the public in 1928 and where it remained until the Fifties, when it was decided to move it in Palazzo dell'Arte. Here it was officially opened, on the 30th of October 1958, the "new" Civic Museum of Natural History of Cremona. Then, in the Nineties, the seat was transferred to Parco del Vecchio Passeggio. For this return to Palazzo Affaitati-Ugolani Dati, it was studied a path divided in four sections. The guideline is represented by the transformation of the functions, from naturalistic collection "only for the experts of the town" to an institution which today works on knowledge and on the defence of the territory. For this reason, the path starts with the historical section, constituted by the original core, which renews the identity of Ala Ponzone collection, an identity which had been partially destroyed year after year; then it offers an analysis of the single disciplines (mineralogy, palaeontology and zoology), and finally it presents the analysis of the territory. The natural environment and, in particular, the urban one allows to introduce a very important theme applied to the local situation: an analysis of biodiversity. The space dedicated to didactics is multi-disciplinary and available for all the sections of the Museum's System. It can explain how the humankind used the resources of the territory according to the theme of the river/city relationship which characterized the history of Cremona community.

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© Pietro Madaschi www.360visio.com

Museo di storia naturale, Sala storica 1_Giuseppe Sigismondo Ala Ponzone (1761-1842)



Museo di storia naturale, Sala storica 2


Museo di storia naturale, Territorio cremonese