For International Museum Day, on Monday, May 18, 2020, Sapienza will virtually open its museums to everyone. National and international experts will guide the visitors on tour showing and explaining historical finds belonging to the precious collections of our 18 museums.

A simple click will allow you to retrace the history of our museums, get into our activities or take part in future projects. A virtual journey will give everyone the opportunity to visit exhibitions, listen to concerts which reproduce sounds of instruments dating back to the Copper Age, learn about the extraordinary treasures rediscovered at Sapienza's archaeological sites in the ancient Near East and in the most important Etruscan sites in our region.

You can also go for a virtual walk in the Botanical Garden of Rome in Trastevere, learn about Sapienza's incredible anatomical collection, read the story of the rediscovered discus thrower or observe ancient acoustic measurement instruments and historical machines for hydraulic power calculation. You will also have the chance to listen and retrace the evolution of human beings and animal species, to listen to a dialogue between a Director and a Museum Curator in the time of Coronavirus or take part in a conversation with the famous palaeontologist Jack Horner who will reveal the behind the scenes of Jurassic Park.

A section will be dedicated to the "Sapienza open-air museum", its architectures and the big Mario Sironi's mural fresco in the Aula Magna, Rector building, renovated and unveiled in its original style in 2017. Lastly, an evocative video mapping will present "Sapienza Museums" which gather and include the entire museum heritage of Sapienza University, extraordinary in its abundance, complexity, history and legacy.

Even during this dramatic period of Covid-19, our museums have been working, researching, managing their collections and keeping a strong connection with their visitors through the intense "Science snippets" communication campaign or the online events on the "museisapienza" Facebook and Instagram official pages, by using the Sapienza social community's hashtags to involve our students or trending topics such as #museichiusimuseiaperti.

The International Museum Day, celebrated every year on May 18, promoted by ICOM- International Council of Museums, is an important moment for museums throughout the world; this year's theme is Museums for Equality: Diversity and Inclusion. This event usually takes place during our traditional "Maggio museale della Sapienza" (Sapienza Museum May). The initiative is promoted in collaboration with ICOM Lazio, ICOM Italia regional branch.