Just a tad creepy

One of the earliest buildings of the University di Bologna is called the Archiginnasio and it's just off the Piazza Maggiore in the center of town. There are still classrooms and lecture halls that are used to teach the scholars of Bologna today, but it's the Antico Teatro Anatomico that I found fascinating.

Used in the 1400s to teach future doctors about anatomy, the theatre is set up with a central table in Carrara marble upon which human bodies were dissected to demonstrate that the kneebone was in fact connected to the shinbone. The bleacher-style seating in hard wood surrounds the central slab.

At one end is the seat, more like a throne, of the ranking lecturer of anatomy. The ornately carved ceiling tops it off.

Outside the Anatomical Theater the walls and ceilings of the hallways are covered with the coats of arms of graduating students, each was allowed to leave their permanent mark on the university. Some are massive (sons of rich folks) and others are more modest. Copernicus and Petrarch are among the former students of the U of B.