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In the drainage workshop there are objects and photographs witnessing the reclamation work (in Italian: bonifica, from bonificare = make earth good, namely cultivable in an area otherwise unserviceable). The entrance room and the drainage workshop want to immerse the visitor in the world of water, making objects and pictures talk about the reclamation work of the XX century in Polesine.

The route continues with a visit to the engine room where you can see: From the back windows the outfall drain of the Lower Old Country From the front windows the drainage canal, where the waters were collected and then emptied into the Canalbianco and conveyed to the sea.

With a glance in the engine room you can admire two diesel engines and the two relating centrifugal pumps, that worked until a few years ago. Near them you can see a screw-impelled vertical pump (flow: 1000 litres per second), electrically operated.

Teaching boards

Along the south wall of the engine room there are eleven teaching boards:

1. In the first board, with a quick journey to the times, the visitor is guided to grasp the most important changes of planet Earth in the last 200 million years.
   While talking of earth and water and restricting our observation we can see the water emergency on Polesine.
   
2. In the four following boards you can see:
   • the relation of the first early Veneto inhabitants with the plain-growing forest and a territory rich in waterways used as routes,
   • the evolution of the natural environment due to the climate and the human being.
3. In the last six boards the human being’s contribution to the environment change is analyzed in details:
   • Proto-historic age: the settlement, the pile-dwellings of Canàr, the hamlet of Frattesina, houses and products.
   • Ancient Adria: town foundation, splendour and decay, Adria and the water in archaeological testimonies.
   • Roman Age: drainage and centuriazione (division of lands into 200-juger plots), the boats, a “mansio” (station) on the Delta Way.
   • Medieval age: the slow organization of defence against water.
   • Modern age: an attempt of fertilizing and using water.
   • Contemporary age: drainage and control of water

The showcases

In two large tables with glass boards, there are three projects concerning Amolara dewatering pump:

• The original project with wheels "a schiaffo" by the engineer Cesare De Lotto, of the year 1853,
• The executive Schlegel project of the year 1854, which makes the provision of the installation of centrifugal turbines, following the opinion of professor Turazza and professor Biasia of Padua University,
• The project of extension by engineer Pasini, of the year 1902

Most important items

Besides the centrifugal pumps, the most important items of the engine room are:

• A maxi-board, m. 3x2, reproducing P.B. Clarici’s chorography of 1721, with the description of the hydrographic situation in the Polesine of the time.
• A maxi –board, m. 3x2, reproducing two segments of the Tabula Peutingeriana (a street map of IV cen. A.D.) concerning south Polesine.
• There is also an interesting big scale model reproducing, on scale 1:10, the Bresega dewatering pump with two water carrying wheels a schiaffo.

The Archaeopark Project

In order to complete the indoor exhibition, there is a project, at a planning stage, of the realization of an outdoor Archaeopark (an archaeological, technological and naturalistic route), using the area opposite to the dewatering plant.

The Archaeopark has the aim of going beyond the traditional museum and reconstructing the environment and the life of the proto-historic inhabitants of Polesine, while involving the visitor in the various activities of everyday life.

The visitors will have the opportunity to stop on the pile-dwelling built along a stretch of water, then to board a raft in order to reach the other bank while admiring the peculiar aquatic vegetation, or to walk across the thicket where they will see the main autochthonous plants. Guided by culture organizers, the visitors will have the opportunity to handle clay, bake vases, grind cereal, bake bread, spin and weave, shoot with a bow and arrow, learn to recognize trees, flowers, berries and edible and medicinal plants.

Photo gallery

Click on images for zoom in and full description:

Photo gallery

URL: http://www.smppolesine.it/septemmaria/eng_pagine/collezioni.php | Last update: 05 August 2011 03:02:19