The Genoa Natural History Museum was founded in 1867. The current museum building was specifically built to house the museum and opened in 1912. Visitors will be met with an expansive exhibition of 7,000 animals, minerals and fossils from all over the world, spread across 23 large rooms spanning 5,000 square metres in total.
Two floors of the building house the scientific collections for study, with over 4.5 million specimens that have been categorised and analysed by specialists from the museum and around the world. Research on the museum’s material continues to lead to the discovery of new species, to the extent that the museum holds over 15,000 “types”, or specimens used by scientists to describe new species.
Education plays a key role within the museum’s activities, with temporary exhibitions, seminars and cycles of conferences taking place on a regular basis.
