Museo di storia naturale dell'alpago

The Natural History Museum, housed in the former primary school of Chies d’Alpago, was opened to the public on June 22nd, 2002. Now the property of the ”Comunità Montana dell’Alpago“, it was conceived 25 years ago by Ivan Fossa, a keen local naturalist of Puos d’Alpago and requested by many local naturalists and teachers (in primary, middle and secondary schools) in order to organize and conserve the wealth of local natural history in a place accessible to the public. The displays required several years of preparation and expenditure by both the ”Comunità Montana“ and the Chies d’Alpago municipality and have been skillfully and professionally set up with the help of the late Prof. Edoardo Semenza, professor of Zoology at the University of Ferrara, Prof. Renzo Stefani of the University of Cagliari Comparative Anatomy Department and others.
The results of many years‘ careful work can be appreciated on the three floors of the building where a rich collection of all aspects of Natural Sciences in the Province of Belluno is exhibited in a didactic framework. Of particular note are the dioramas, the fungus collection, the wood specimens and the jaw of an Odontocetus (a species similar to a dolphin which lived in the ancient sea of Alpago) and, in the fish section, the Sampierolo, native to Lake Santa Croce.