Transfer to the Istituto dell’Accademia delle Scienze in 1742-43

Institute of the Academy of Sciences, Bologna
Istituto dell’Accademia delle Scienze, Bologna
(Institute of the Academy of Sciences)


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Between 1742 and 1743, the Cospi collection was transferred to the Istituto dell'Accademia delle Scienze, in present-day Zamboni street (then San Donato).

The manuscript, together with other Mesoamerican artifacts from the Cospi and Aldrovandi collections, was kept in the Stanza delle Antichità, along with Egyptian, Greek, and Roman objects. Sometime before 1780, the manuscript was transferred to the library of the Istituto (the "ancestor" of today's Biblioteca Universitaria di Bologna), where it was observed by the exiled Mexican Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavigero.

Girolamo Cospi, Inventory of the items in the Museo Cospiano belonging to the Room of Antiquities, June 6th, 1743; ASB, Ass Ist, B13.35.
Inventory of the items in the Museo Cospiano belonging to the Room of Antiquities,
6th, June 1743;  ASB, Ass Ist, B13.35


Girolamo Cospi, Inventory of the items in the Museo Cospiano belonging to the Room of Antiquities, June 6th, 1743; ASB, Ass Ist, B13.35

Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731-1787)
Francisco Javier Clavijero
(1731-1787)