Cubiculum Artistarum
The spaces of the academy
Representative headquarters
This is the hall dedicated to public meetings organized by the Academy and is part of the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, commissioned by Pope Pius IV and built between 1562 and 1566 based on a design by Francesco Morandi, known as "Il Terribilia", with the aim of unifying and housing the Schools of the Bolognese Studio within a single building.
At the time, the University was divided into two distinct fields of study, the Lawyers (Giuristi) and the Artists (Artisti), for whom the two rooms arranged around the central courtyard, on either side of the Chapel of S. Maria dei Bulgari, were intended.
This arrangement remained unchanged until 1803, when the University moved to Palazzo Poggi, in current Via Zamboni. In 1840, the Magistracy of the Municipality of Bologna assigned the "Cubiculum Legistarum" to the Agricultural Society, which remained there until the beginning of the Second World War, when its activities were interrupted. On January 29, 1944, a heavy bombing hit the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, destroying the Chapel of S. Maria dei Bulgari, the adjacent rooms, and the Anatomical Theatre.
Following post-war reconstruction, the headquarters of the Society, which had in the meantime become the Academy of Agriculture, was transferred to the restored "Cubiculum Artistarum" and the "Cubiculum Legistarum" was given to the Medical-Surgical Society of Bologna.
Today, only a small part of the Renaissance frescoes by Ottaviano Mascarino and Lorenzo Fiorini, which decorated the vault and walls of the room with heraldic coats of arms, nine paintings representing the figures of the six Liberal Arts, Medicine, Philosophy, Theology, and the elements Earth, Water, Air, Fire, and Life, are still visible after the restoration of the 1950s.
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