October the 1st was an important date as for the very first time in decades an extraordinary heritage of the #University of Palermo was back under the spotlights of the international scientific community at #DigitalHeritage2015 in Granada, Spain. In that context, thanks to Tatjana Dzambazova and #AutodeskMemento , I had the opportunity to present our project about #3D #reconstruction and #digital #preservation of normal and pathological #anatomical #specimens by means of #stereophotogrammetry. More important, I had the chance to introduce the source of those specimens that is the #Museum of #Pathological #Anatomy of the Institute of Pathological Anatomy of the Università degli Studi di Palermo. Unfortunately forgotten by the rest of the world for a very long time , this museum is one of the biggest collection in Europe of rarest medical conditions and an incredibly rich source of scientific knowledge. Created by #GiovanniGorgone between 1838 and 1859 this Museum today includes more than 1600 different specimens correlated by medical reports and with almost a third of them dated back to 1852. The collection includes mostly specimens of rare pathologies and teratologies, internal organs abnormalities and among all those, the jewel of the collection, a whole acromegalic skeleton, 2.5 meters tall, representing a pathological condition as rare as 5 case per million per year. There is no doubt the museum is an unsubstitutable source of medical knowledge and a rich record of the #history of #medicine in #Sicily, in #Italy as well as in #Europe.
Me, Dr. Giuseppe Giglia, Dario Dario Passariello and #Digital3D , Dr. Giulio Giannone, Prof. A.Florena and Prof. E. Maresi are putting all our efforts to digitally preserve all the specimens included in the museum and, nonetheless to make the museum again virtually and physically available to public.
In the near future we will keep you posted on the progress of the project and on process of restoration of the museum…so stay tuned!