Speleovivarium

The Museum for Speleology is located in a gallery in the center of Trieste, built during the Second World War as an air raid shelter, with environmental characteristics similar to those of natural karst cavities. In Speleovivarium, it can watch live specimens of fauna and flora from the Carso and Gorizia, and paleontological, minerals, fossils, caving equipment and an extensive collection of documents and artifacts on artificial underground sites. The star of the museum is the Proteus, the only European vertebrate that lives exclusively in groundwater in the area from the Karst Trieste, Gorizia and Slovenia to the Bocche di Cattaro. Cause pollution, the Proteus is among the animals at risk of extinction; therefore, the need to raise it in captivity gaves impetus to the creation of the Speleovivarium. The Museum for Speleology is also equipped with the exhibition hall and projection  and teaching room.