What would the wunderkammer or the study of a 17th century collector have been like if he had lived up to the present day, always careful to show the evolution of the world and new borders?

The exhibition, curated by Paolo Linetti, aims to answer this question and aims to show, through an illustrative and rich review, the history of collecting from its origins to the contemporary era.

The only large room recreated in the hall of the Civic Museums thus becomes a real 'chamber of wonders' created with the spirit of the Wunderkammer that spread in Europe between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

The specially designed spectacular setting will stage goods falling into the categories of Artificialia (man's creations of works of art, such as statues, jewels, paintings, archaeological finds), Naturalia (shells and corals, exotic animals, monstrosities of nature ) and again the Scientifica (works of human genius) and the Exotica (objects from the Far East or from beyond the Pillars of Hercules).

The exhibition is also an opportunity to see never exhibited works of art from the deposits of the Civic Museums of Pavia , taxidermy works (ostriches, crocodiles ...) from the Kosmos Museum , African works from the Frate Sole Foundation , others from the Botanical Garden of Pavia . Also significant are the loans from the Science Museum of Milan and the C. Mazzocchi Museum of Oriental Art in Coccaglio. The exhibition is further enriched by goods from private collections : Japanese armor from the 19th century, kimonos, an extraordinary Ottoman opium pipe in the shape of a dragon from the 18th-19th century, a splendid peacock… These are just some of the wonders that can be admired.

The wunderkammer of the Civic Museums is completed by a selection of Vanitas by Gian Carozzi, works by Elena Carozzi, Valentina Giovando and REMIDA