Besides the four main sections, the museum holds and displays other types of remains and curiosities. The Gabbrielli room contains evidence of the academic life, as well as portraits and photographs of past presidents, and cabinets with curiosities of many kinds. Other collections on the ground floor and in the basement include archeological finds, astronomical models and scientific measuring instruments. There is also valuable teaching material such as the indoor sundial in the floor of the Auditorium, the model solar system and the vacuum pump in the basement.
CURIOSITIES
The cabinets in the Gabbrielli room contain a great variety of curiosities and historical objects, including a touchstone, emblem of the Accademia, and antique scientific instruments. Read more
ASTRONOMY
The astronomical itinerary begins in the first room of the basement with a display of antique field glasses, models of telescopes, a seventeenth century armillary sphere and nineteenth century globes of the Earth. Read more
ARCHEOLOGY
The archeological collection includes a small paleo-ethnology collection in the Bartalini room and some funerary urns in the basement. Read more
MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
The Ricasoli room hosts a historical collection of measuring instruments used in commercial transactions and donated by the Siena Chamber of Commerce. Read more
THE VACUUM PUMP
Part of the basement is sometimes used for teaching activities and experiments with the vacuum pump, a modern reconstruction of a pneumatic pump that the Fisiocritici built in the late seventeenth century to demonstrate the existence and effects of a vacuum. Read more
THE SUNDIAL
In 1848 a sundial was built in the floor of the Auditorium to indicate local midday: every day at midday, a ray of sun passing through a hole in the wall fell on a line on the floor, bordered by marble slabs inscribed with celestial coordinates and astronomical symbols. Read more
