Museum Dreams: Dioramas in Milan

Photo from here.

My family lived in Italy for a year when I was ten, and I used to love visiting the Museo Civico di Storia Naturale in Milan. One of the highlights is their terrific collection of nature dioramas, made by Valter Fogato and others.

Having grown up in Ottawa, I was used to dioramas of Canadian wildlife, but Milan had dioramas of creatures from all over the world.

I didn't take any pictures of the dioramas myself, but I've been able to find a bunch here and there on the web.

Photo from here.

You don't often see dioramas of animals running. Perhaps this is because one's first instinct would be to say that they wouldn't fit -- they need space to run around in. But of course, at any particular instant in its run cycle, the animal doesn't take up any more room than it does when it's standing still. The running poses add real dynamism to this diorama of two guanacos.

Photo from here.

I wish I had a better picture of this diorama of an aardvark attacking a termite mound (there's apparently an aardworf in the diorama as well). It takes place at night, which looks really neat; you don't often see that in dioramas either.

Photo from here.

I don't actually remember this diorama of barbary sheep and addax, but I came across it while looking for pictures to use in this article. I love how they've incorporated a replica of Saharan giraffe rock art; it's a subtle reminder of human presence.

Photo from here.

This diorama of grizzly bears catching salmon does a great job of conveying a frenzy of activity.

Photo from here.

Many of the dioramas have two different species in them, like this one of a muskox and a caribou. This not only saves space, since one diorama can stand for two animals, but also gives the opportunity to depict interspecific behaviour.

Finally, here are a bunch more that I like, but don't have anything clever to say about: