Madness Locked Away, this is the name of the Psychiatric Hospital Museum of San Servolo, inaugurated on 20 May 2006 in the Island of San Servolo, and houses items from the Insane Asylum, an institution that marked the history of the island from the early 1700s to 1978. The Museum’s purpose, already implicit in its name (Madness Locked Away), is to highlight the marginalizing and segregating aspect of the mental hospital through specific exhibits, descriptions and explanatory panels.
The museum is divided into different sectors:
- Lab (histological section, psych-physiological section, chemical-clinical section, scientific veterinary section)
- Clinic
- Educational relics
- Therapy (electroconvulsive therapy, electroshock treatment, physical and moral therapies, pharmacological therapy)
- Contention
- Ill patients (relics and productions)
- Manteinance and accomodations
- Historical Pharmacy of the Psychiatric Hospital, with XIX century furniture and vases
- Anatomy room
An introductive historical section has been added, in which the history of the island and the hospital is told, with a room with pictures and multimedia of the Insane Asylum.
All the relics exposed aim to show the development of the discipline and of the psychiatric facilities from the first internment in San Servolo in 1725 until the closure of the hospital.
The museum gathers contention equipment, XIX century drugs, electrotherapy and analysis tools of the XX century, objects of inpatients under occupational therapy (work as a treatment), a piano for music therapy, medical and administrative documents, a recreation of an anatomy room with some brains and skulls, besides pictures of alienated patients, of the asylum and its rooms.
The museum is handled by Servizi Metropolitani.
The scientific and historial aspect is handled by prof. Diego Fontanari and Mario Galzigna while the architect Barbara Accordi handled the exposition rooms.
Useful Information
Opening Hours:
- Friday – Saturday – Sunday: from 9:45 AM to 4:30 PM
- Wednesday – Thursday: only two openings per day, at 11:30 AM and 2:45 PM (by appointment)
- Monday – Tuesday: closed to the public (guided tours may be available by reservation)
Price:
- Full ticket: €7.00
- Reduced ticket: €5.00
Contacts:
Tel: +39 041 8627167 / +39 041 2765001
Email: sanservolo@coopculture.it / museomanicomio@servizimetropolitani.ve.it
If you wish to guarantee entry or request a personalized guided tour, it is recommended to book in advance by calling or emailing the official contacts.
For any further information, please check on website: https://servizimetropolitani.ve.it/it/museomanicomio
Address: Isola di San Servolo 30124 - Venezia
How to get there: water-bus, stop "S. Servolo"
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