The Arctic viewed from Florence, Italy

We had an opportunity in 2021 to explore the world’s first museum of anthropology, which was founded in 1869 by Paolo Mantegazza (1831–1910), in Florence, in the context of many centuries of previous ethnographic and philosophical work that converged there. That same year Mantegazza also established the world’s first university professorship of anthropology. His museum, now lodged in the wonderfully named Palazzo Nonfinito, in the center of Florence, appears at first glance to be a relic of a now distant past, marooned in the 21st century—but it is not. The story of how this happened illuminates much about the history of anthropology. Over centuries, the disparate collections that the Medici had gathered in their home, the Palazzo di Medici, were eventually assembled in a chamber in the Palazzo Vecchio, the great medieval fortress in the city center, which is still the seat of government of the city-state. In 1563 Duke Cosimo I de Medici, newly proclaimed to royalty (by himself) commissioned the artist, art historian and architect Giorgio Vasari (1511–1574) to create a study chamber or ‘cabinet of curiosities. The Guardaroba became the first public site for display of the vast Medici collections. Duke Cosimo referred to “the cosmography in the Guardaroba”, reinforced by a set of beautiful painted maps hung on the doors of dozens of cabinets and rooms around the Guardaroba. Behind each door was collections of diverse treasures from the area mapped.