Museum of Mineralogy of Padua

The Mineralogy Museum is located in the historic center of Padua and is part of the University Museums of the University of Padua. The Museum of Mineralogy of the University of Padua possesses a rich mineralogical collection of samples from both Italian and foreign mineral and metal deposits, intensely cultivated in the past largely exhausted, and from the rugged alpine rocky environments, where mineral seekers venture still looking for precious “rock crystals” today. Minerals therefore provide valuable geological information but also find countless applications in the industrial and civil fields, as well as having been used, for centuries, as natural pigments in paintings and art. The Museum, created at the beginning of the eighteenth century with the birth of the Vallisneriano naturalistic museum, has increased its mineralogical heritage over time. The entry of the Gasser, Bianchi collections and numerous other specimens acquired in recent times have enriched the collection bringing it to 18,000 specimens divided between minerals, gems, specimens of mineral deposits and meteorites. The collection also contains a rich heritage of scientific instruments of the nineteenth century: protractors, polariscopes and microscopes used to measure and observe the morphological characters of crystals before the advent of modern techniques for investigating the structures of minerals by X-rays. The mission of the mineralogy museum is to preserve, restore but also enrich its mineralogical heritage by making use of continuous discoveries of mineralogical species, both new to science and of significant exhibition value found in new geographical areas of the planet. The Mineralogy Museum is currently being redesigned and rearranged: however, the rich collection is the object of visits and studies by students and researchers.