The Mammoth of the Castle

EXTRAORDINARY OPENINGS

from 1 July to 3 September

L’AQUILA, SIXTEENTH CENTURY CASTLE

With last year’s record numbers (+800%) and the visitors recorded this year in spring, which placed the Museo Nazionale d’Abruzzo among the 15 most visited museums in Italy on Easter Monday, the “Mammoth of the Castle” confirms its position as a major attraction in the cultural and tourist heritage of the region.

The exceptional skeleton of Mammuthus meridionalis is one of the largest and most complete fossilised mammoth skeletons in the whole of Europe: the “Mammoth of the Castle”, so called because housed in the East Bastion of the sixteenth century Castle, was discovered in 1954 in the locality of Madonna della Strada, near Scoppito (L’Aquila). Since 1960, the majestic fortress, built during the Spanish domination over the city of L’Aquila, has been housing the imposing fossil. Historical venue of the museum, the Castle is now closed to the public for restoration work following the 2009 earthquake.

Responding to the constant requests for visits is a priority that cannot be postponed, in order to consolidate the centrality of the fossil record within the international scientific panorama and to allow, even those who approach the imposing fossil out of mere curiosity, to admire a precious testimony dating back 1,300,000 years.

Therefore, the extraordinary openings of the mammoth will be repeated from July following a more extensive calendar of visits than in previous years, and the month of August will be fully open.

With the mammoth ticket, it will also be possible to visit the MuNDA venue in the former slaughterhouse, opposite to the 99 cannelle, until 3 September.

This is an opportunity to visit the exhibition “Master of  Campo di Giove. Recomposing a masterpiece” curated by Federica Zalabra and Cristiana Pasqualetti, which proposes an unprecedented layout with virtual apparatuses, didactic panels, tactile panels and QR Codes for in-depth thematic studies. For the first time, the patrimony illegally stolen 121 years ago from Campo di Giove is exhibited in a recomposition made possible by the synchronous and joint action of various protagonists; these have allowed the recovery of the fourteenth century tablets that make up the largest narrative cycle dedicated to the Saint.