History

Some museums were formed, for educational and research purposes, in the centuries-old history of the Veterinary School of Turin; the first was that of Normal Anatomy, which occupied large spaces in the building of Via Nizza 52 in Turin (seat of the School since 1859) , which was destroyed, along with many other memorabilia, following an aerial bombardment during the World War Two.

We must mention also a collection of anatomo-pathological samples from the mid-nineteenth century, which was lost and another of parasites, collected by prof. Edoardo Perroncito, still preserved, although considerably reduced.

In 2000, when the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine moved from its historical headquarters to the current one, in the University Campus of Grugliasco (TO), all the historical exhibits, instruments and collections from the former Institutes were assembled and rearranged in order to establish a single Museum, which could be visited for educational and educational purposes, by pupils or guests visiting the Faculty.

It was not until 2016, however, that the Museum of Veterinary Sciences takes shape, with a setting up that follows a thematic criterion. In addition to a small zoological collection of taxidermal preparations, there is a number of surgical and obstetric instruments, some of which invented by teachers of the School. Also valuable microscopes, microtomes, photographic and cinematographic devices are shown, together with some objects related to the activity of the professional and military veterinarian. From the laboratories of the Department of Veterinary Sciences come many instruments used in the past for chemical analyzes, such as scales, glassware, spectroscopes, centrifuges, pHmeters, colorimeters.

The museum heritage also includes a books collection, made up of mostly nineteenth-century texts, which belonged to teachers of the Royal Higher School of Veterinary Medicine, or which they wrote and sometimes with interesting hand-written notes. Moreover an archive of the papers belonging to some teachers is under construction. Books and papers are often connected with museum findings, and help in explaining and showing how they work.