Aquaria in the Chartreuse
Written by Monday, 16 February 2009 23:15
The “Museo di Storia Naturale e del Territorio di Calci” (Museum of natural history and territory of Calci) has gained a new outstanding attraction: a public aquarium, unveiled on November 21st 2008. I attended the opening ceremony and here is my brief report.
The set-up is based on 20 tanks 700 litres each, plus a 2500 litres show tank at the entrance. If you look at the 20 tanks in the suggested way you’ll be driven along a tropical body of water through Africa, America, Asia and even Australia while the show tank – located in the entrance - is dedicated to Italian endemic fishes and crustaceans with emphasis on endangers species.
The whole tank show follows a phylogenetic path showing the evolution of fresh water fishes from the eve of time to today, beginning with my beloved fresh water stingrays, moving on to “living fossils” such as Bychirs from Africa, Gars from North America and “bony-fishes” of the family Osteoglossidae from South America and continues with characins, cichlids and puffer fishes which are thought to be the last step of the actual evolution! And that is not all....
Some information on the Museum may be welcomed. The Certosa di Calci is located near Pisa, Tuscany, in Val Graziosa. What was once a monastery is now a Museum, closely related to the University of Pisa.
The photo above puts the Museum in the appropriate settings: it is the world famous monument of Pisa, the Torre Pendente (literally the Leaning Tower).
The Certosa di Calci has a large, central, courtyard while all around are located the buildings once hosting friars and now the Museum. The Certosa di Calci was founded in 1366 and was dedicated to paleontology, mineralogy and zoology. The Museum is the home of one of the biggest in Europe collections of cetacean’s skeletons. Time has come for pics …
Time to proceed to the fishes and the tanks now:
That’s all folks! I hope you have enjoyed the tour the way I did when I visited the aquarium. If you happen to be in Pisa do not forget to pay this Aquarium a visit. I think it is worth going to!!
Photos by the author.
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