Three good reasons to visit – in good health the Ospedale Civile – the Venice hospital: The Historical Medical Library, the Museum of Anatomic Pathology and the Pharmacy Museum.
We, Venetians, usually enter through the door of the Scuola Grande of San Marco absent-mindedly. This is actually an absolute Renaissance masterpiece, which faces Campo SS. Giovanni and Paolo. We distractedly have a look at the façade and, engrossed in our thoughts, keep walking across the entrance hall with its double row of columns, which will take us to our hospital. It is hard to believe, but this is a place (of passage) where we come when we are ill or when we want to pay a visit to our loved ones. This has been a hospital since the time of Napoleon. Nevertheless, you have the privilege of being amazed by such beauty. So please stop for a moment in front of the monumental door and be ready to take a short journey in the history of medicine.
The Library
Even if you do not have a bibliographical interest in medical science, we recommend that you walk up the monumental staircase designed by Longhena and you look up to admire the wonderful wooden ceilings of the Sala Consiliare and of the Sala dell’Albergo, ignoring the ancient and less ancient eight thousand volumes, which represent the historical core of the collection (starting from the sixteenth century). These ceilings are the finest example of the old craft of the “indorador” (gilder), an artisanship, which originated in Venice thanks to the precious technique of “battioro” (craftsmen who used to make very thin leaves out of gold bars, which were “spreadable” with a brush). Just one precaution: if you are a little squeamish, do not look at the collection of surgical tools, which is right in the middle of the room.
The museum is located in the passage of the old Scuola of Santa Maria della Pace in the monumental area of the hospital and dedicated to Andrea Vesalio, a Flemish doctor, the founder of modern human anatomy. He described in minute detail the anatomy of the human body with the supervision of Jan Stephan Van Calcar, a Flemish painter who worked in Titian’s workshop. Today we can admire the anatomical study tables where art and science blend, but also the surgical tools and objects, which mark the adventurous beginning of modern medical science.
The Pharmacy Museum
The old Pharmacy of Ospedale Civile is located in the rooms of the Scuola of Santa Maria della Pace. It has been fortunately recovered from the oblivion of a dusty storage room where it had been lying. Furnishings and various objects, which were recovered based on a philological spirit, re- create nineteenth century atmospheres, walking among scales, officinalis herbs, nicotine, cinchona, strychnine and coffee. A time when the first steps towards a modern pharmacology started to develop.
The Scuola Grande of San Marco is always open (it is the real the entrance to the hospital).
The Medical Library is open from Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 14.00.
The Pharmacy and the Museum of Anatomy are open to the public on Mondays from 14.00 to 17.00.
C.S.
