Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna

Heraldry in the Stabat Mater, Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Built between 1562–63 to house Bologna’s university, the Archiginnasio Palace is now home to the Communal Library and historic Anatomical Theater, as well as the world’s “largest existing wall heraldic complex.” A single ticket grants visitors access to the theater and specific sections of the library, both on the upper floor. Highlights include entrance into the richly decorated and book-lined Stabat Mater room as well as a peek into the classrooms-turned-library-storage Historic Halls.

For more historical and visitor information on the Archiginnasio, see the Biblioteca comunale website.

Upper loggia of the Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Detail of the decoration in the Stabat Mater, Biblioteca comunale dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Heraldry-lined staircase in the Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Alternative view of the heraldry in the upper loggia of the Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Walls of the Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Anton Giulio Bragaglia, Il pittore Giacomo Balla, c. 1915. Part of a hallway exhibition of Bragaglia’s photographs in the Archiginnasio, Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

View of the Historic Halls, the former classrooms that now store the library’s holdings. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Anatomical Theater, Bologna

Anatomical theater in the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. The theater, made from floor-to-ceiling carved wood, was designed by the architect and sculptor Antonio Levanti around 1637 and finished around 1737. It had to be heavily reconstructed after WWII (Atlas Obscura, Bologna Welcome). Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Caryatids in the form of spellati (skinless figures) by Ercole Lelli in the anatomical theater of the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. The canopy they support holds an allegorical figure of Anatomy, along with a putti clutching a bone. See Cushing, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, v 9, n 3, 204–05. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Carved figures on the ceiling of the anatomical theater in the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Anatomical theater of the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

Carved wooden figures on the ceiling of the anatomical theater in the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

One of two spellati (skinless figures) from 1734 by Ercole Lelli in the anatomical theater of the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. Lelli later created the standing, full-size, wax-and-bone anatomical figures at Palazzo Poggi. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.

One of two spellati from 1734 by Ercole Lelli in the anatomical theater of the Archiginnasio, University of Bologna. Lelli later created the standing, full-size, wax-and-bone anatomical figures at Palazzo Poggi. Photo by Renée DeVoe Mertz.