The Museo Storico d’Arte Sanitaria is a part of the Santo Spirito in Saxia Hospital In Rome. A medical library is attached to the museum.
Museo Nazionale d’Arte Sanitaria Rome
Useful information
Address: Lungotevere in Sassia, 3 – Rome. Telephone: +39 06 68352748. The museum can be visited by appointment only. Entrance fee: 5 Euro (+2 Euro with guide).
History and description
The Museo Storico d’Arte Sanitaria (“Historical Museum of Sanitary Art”) probably originated from the rooms where the friars prepared their medicines etc. since the Middle Ages.
The museum was inaugurated in 1933.
What to see
Among the exhibits is a wooden mill that was used to grind the bark of the kina tree there to produce quinine against malaria.
Other attractions include the oldest carriage of the Red Cross, surgical instruments from different eras and a block of wood used in the 16th century to tie up the mentally ill.
There is also a large syringe on display. This was used to fill the matrix of a foetus with holy water. To be baptized in this way in case there was a possibility that the child might die.
Biblioteca Lancisiana
A medical library, the Biblioteca Lancisiana, founded by Giovanni Maria Lancisi in 1711, is attached to the museum.