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Designing the House of Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century Naples: The Ephemeral Museum of Ferdinando Spinelli, Prince of Tarsia

This chapter investigates the symbolic significance and the cultural functions of the scientific instruments exhibited in this place of polite sociability, representation and experimentation. Its starting point is the consideration that displaying collections entails a manipulation of space that is shaped by contemporary conceptions of knowledge and of the social functions it should serve. The analysis offered here moves beyond the notion of the museum as a space for the representation of knowledge. The chapter shows that the Tarsia Museum was also a space for cultural experimentation and self-promotion. Finally, it points out the tensions arising from contrasting visions of the museum as a space of representation and as a space of knowledge production. Keywords:eighteenth-century naples; ephemeral museum; Ferdinando spinelli; house of knowledge; Prince of Tarsia; scientific instruments; Tarsia museum