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There is a beautiful tension between the terrestrial and esoteric in the frescoes of this 18th-century dissection theater.
Though Italy is home to many wonderful anatomical theatres, sandwiched among the myriad glories of the Museums of the University of Pavia is a secret swirling temple of medical science that sets itself apart from the crowd. Constructed in the 1780s as a lecture hall for blooming young surgeons and doctors, Pavia’s anatomical theatre was a place where scholars – led by giants of the Enlightenment like Antonio Scarpa – would dissect the dead as students would line the surrounding steeply pitched tiers, picking up as much information as possible. In later years, such anatomical theatres were used to operate on not-yet-dead, in hopes of curing them, while eager students leaned in with the hope of picking up life-saving secrets.
