Archiginnasio of Bologna

First unified seat of the University of Bologna, with a wooden anatomical theatre upstairs

Built in 1563 by Pope Pius IV to consolidate the scattered classrooms of the university — and to stop the Basilica of San Petronio from growing any larger — the Archiginnasio served as the main seat of the University of Bologna until 1803. Today it houses the city library and remains open to walk through.

The upstairs Teatro Anatomico is the real reason to visit: a tiered lecture hall lined entirely in spruce wood, opened in 1637 for the public demonstration of human dissection. The marble dissecting table sits in the centre, with the Spellati ("skinned men") — two flayed wooden figures carved by Ercole Lelli in 1734 — flanking the lecturer's chair. The room was rebuilt after Allied bombing destroyed it in 1944.

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The walls and ceilings of the Archiginnasio are covered in some 6,000 painted heraldic crests — the coats of arms of every student elected to lead the university's rectors between 1564 and 1796. It is the largest known concentration of such heraldry anywhere in the world.

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