The royal elephant Fritz has made a figurative return to life at the Royal Hunting Lodge at Stupinigi, Turin, for an exhibition on the zoo that the Savoy family kept in the park in the 19th century, entitled: Fritz. An Elephant at Court.
Fritz was the pride of the royal collection. He was gifted to King Carlo Felice of Savoy by the Viceroy of Egypt Mohammed Ali in 1827 and was kept in style in a spacious pen complete with a pool and a slide for easy access. He attracted thousands of curious and affectionate visitors till his death in 1852, when he was stuffed and placed in the Turin Regional Museum of Natural Sciences.
The exhibition, set up by the students of the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts (Turin) documents the entire menagerie of Stupinigi from the beginning of the 18th century onwards and explores the role that exotic animals played in the European courts of the period. The models of lions, kangaroos, ostriches and so on on display have been created by the Association of San Carlo Technical Colleges of Turin. The exhibition includes prints, lithograph, paintings, sculptures and audiovisual presentations, as well as material contributed by the historic Museum of Zoology and Anatomy, the Regional Museum of Natural Sciences and the Historic Archive of the Foundation Mauriziano Order(former proprietors of the Hunting Lodge).
Opening on the 20th May 2015 and running till the 13th September 2015.
Info: Tel. (+39)011.3581220- www.comune.torino.it - www.ordinemauriziano.it
