{"id":5440,"date":"2025-03-07T18:22:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T17:22:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\/the-museum-center\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T10:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T09:38:13","slug":"the-museum-center","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\/en\/the-museum-center\/","title":{"rendered":"The museum center"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Complesso<\/span><\/div>

The hospital, which later took the name Sistine Ward, was embellished with a cycle of frescoes of the Umbro-Laziale school (15th cent.), commissioned by the pontiff himself and intended to narrate significant moments in his life and the history of the ancient Innocentian building. The Sistine Lane, surmounted by a tiburium, contains a ciborium attributed to Andrea Palladio and a pictorial work by Carlo Maratti. To Andrea Bregno is attributed the marble portal known as “of Paradise.” Pius V (1566 – 1572) expanded the hospital with the construction of the Palazzo del Commendatore, by architect Giovanni Lippi (known as Nanni di Baccio Bigio) and managed by Monsignor Bernardino Cirillo. <\/p>\n

The palace, built around an elegant quadrangular courtyard, is adorned with a fountain donated by Alexander VII (1655-1667) and a six-hour clock, commissioned by Commendatore Ludovico Gazzoli. The building houses the ancient Spezieria, a place where a great deal of pharmaceutical research was conducted, where medicinal herbs were crushed, witnessed today by collections of ancient jars and mortars. On the main floor on the elegant loggia is the Salone del Commendatore, magnificently decorated with frescoes narrating the history of the ancient hospital. Under the pontificate of Clement XI (1700-1721) the Lancisian Library was founded by Giovanni Maria Lancisi, a papal physician and archiater, for the benefit of the young trainee physicians of the Santo Spirito Hospital. Under Alexander VII (1655-1667), the Santo Spirito Hospital Complex was further developed, with the building of the Alexandrian Hospital Hall, now used as the seat of the Museum of the History of Sanitary Art. <\/p>\n

Under Benedict XIV (1724-1730) it was further enlarged with the construction of the lost “Benedictine Lane,” which was demolished in the early 20th century in favor of the arrangement of the Vittorio Bridge and the Tiber embankments. The eastern elevation was rebuilt on the model of the ancient Sistine Hospital, and on the side of the Tiber embankment in Sassia more buildings were added, the site of the modern wards of the present Holy Spirit Hospital. <\/p>\n<\/div>

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The Lancisian Library<\/p><\/h1><\/div>

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The Lancisian Library located on the upper loggia of the Palazzo del Commendatore (16th cent.) in the Monumental Complex of Santo Spirito in Saxia, was founded by Giovanni Maria Lancisi, distinguished physician and papal archiater of Innocent XI and Clement XI, in 1711 and inaugurated on May 21, 1714. Furnished with armaria<\/em> designed by architect Tommaso Mattei, it features on the vault of the Reading Room a superb 18th-century fresco attributed to Gregorio Guglielmi and preserves two globes , terracqueous and celestial, from the 17th century by Vincenzo Maria Coronelli. A door in the precious shelving gives access to the secret window, open to the Sistine Lanes. <\/p>\n

The Library’s bibliographic collections consist of about 20,000 volumes divided into several funds. The main ones are : Lancisi, Severino, New Acquisitions that hold about 60 incunabula, about 1,600 cinquecentine, numerous editions of the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries and manuscripts dating back to the 14th-19th centuries, including the illuminated codex “Liber Fraternitatis Sanctis Spiritus in Saxia de Urbe.” bearing the collection of thousands of autograph signatures of popes, kings, nobles and commoners from all over the Christian world who joined the Confraternity Hospitaller of the Holy Spirit, becoming benefactors for life of the Hospital, and Avicenna’s 13th-century Codex. <\/p>\n

The Lancisian Library, specializing in the History of Medicine and Science, is included in the National Library System ( Lazio Region Pole – RL1) is also registered in the roll of regional institutes for inclusion in the Regional Library Organization (O.B.R.), participates in the National Census of Manuscripts and Cinquecentine promoted by the Ministry of Culture – Central Institute for the Unique Catalogue and for Bibliographical Information. The Library also participates in the National Census of Manuscripts and Cinquecentines promoted by the Ministry of Culture – Central Institute for the Single Catalogue and Bibliographic Information. In 2021 the Library’s halls were reopened to the public after a major restoration made possible by the recovery of funds from the Lazio Region. In 2023, the Regional Council approved the outline of a Memorandum of Understanding with Asl Roma 1 for collaboration on valuable bibliographic assets, with the aim of digitizing the Library’s bibliographic holdings. <\/p>\n

The Lancisian Library is hosting the multimedia project “Memories of a Librarian<\/em>,” funded by the Lazio Region. The audiovisual and multilingual (Italian, English and LIS) installation consists of the interactive narration of the Library’s historical story by a life-size holographic character. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

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The Museum of Sanitary Art<\/h1><\/div>

The original collecting nucleus was formed in the second half of the eighteenth century and consisted of the material used for teaching purposes in technical-scientific theory lectures (other museums in Italy, preserve this type of material, such as Palazzo Poggi in Bologna<\/a> or La Specola in Florence<\/a>).
\nDuring the nineteenth century, a series of important figures took turns, starting with Giuseppe Flajani and ending with the surgeon of Pius IX, Giuseppe Costantini, who devoted themselves with passion to reorganizing and enriching the collection with new collections. From the taking of Rome onward, however, the structure gradually lost its vitality. The hospital in fact, founded by Pope Innocent III had among its tasks the teaching of medicine, and was therefore equipped with a rich Library, the Anatomical Theater and the Speziera. <\/p>\n

It was not until 1911 on the occasion of the “Retrospective Exhibitions,” organized in Castel Sant’Angelo for the International Exhibition in Rome, that the idea of creating today’s museum was put forward. In the section devoted to sanitary art, a rich display of objects from various private collections had been set up, and a 17th-century Roman apothecary’s shop and an alchemical laboratory (with a model of the alchemical door<\/a> that actually existed in Rome) had also been reconstructed. <\/p>\n

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Opened in 1933, it constitutes one of the most important historical and scientific records of the art of medicine.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The museum is divided into a series of rooms related to the nuclei of the collections: the Alessandrina Room (with anatomical tables from the 1700s); the Flaiani Room (with anatomo-pathological preparations from the late 18th century and wax models); the Capparoni Room (with Roman-Etruscan votive offerings, portable apothecaries, and 16th-17th century apothecary vessels); and the Carbonelli Room (with Roman surgical instruments for ophthalmic and obstetric use and a collection of period microscopes).<\/p>\n

Also reconstructed in full scale are two atmospheric rooms: an ancient Pharmacy and an Alchemy Laboratory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"100-width.php","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-5440","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nThe museum center - Santo Spirito in Sassia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\/en\/the-museum-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The museum center - Santo Spirito in Sassia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\/en\/the-museum-center\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Santo Spirito in Sassia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-05T09:38:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\\\/en\\\/the-museum-center\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.santospiritoinsassia.com\\\/en\\\/the-museum-center\\\/\",\"name\":\"The museum center - 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