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When and how was the University of Pavia born? Where do its identity myths come from?

The new temporary exhibition of the Pavia University History Museum, in collaboration with CeSUP – Pavia University History Center, aims to answer these questions. The fundamental objective is to distinguish the myth from the data, obtained from historical research, while also highlighting the precious fragments of history and actual cultural greatness that were the building blocks of the founding mythologies of the University of Pavia.

The exhibition “At the origins of the University of Pavia: history, myths, history of myths” will be inaugurated on Monday 19 May 2025 at 6:00 pm; access to the museum and the guided tour will be offered free of charge to participants.

The inauguration will take place at the end of the first day of the conference organized by CeSUP – Pavia University History Center with the participation of the Law Department of Pavia University and of the Ghislieri College “The capitulary of Lotario and the University of Pavia, 825-1925-2025. History and invention of a tradition”, which will be held on Monday 19 and Tuesday 20 May 2025, 9:00 am-6:00 pm. On May 20, guided tours will be offered at 3:30 pm, 4:30 pm, 6:00 pm (at an additional cost of €5).

The itinerary, set up in the temporary exhibition hall of the Museum for the History of the University of Pavia, will then be open from 20 May to 19 December 2025 during the opening hours of the Museum (Tue 15:00-18:00, Wed 10:00-13:00, Fri 10:00-13:00), with the purchase of the entrance ticket only; guided tours during the year will be organized on Tuesdays at 16:30, starting from 27 May, and on some Saturdays and Sundays indicated on this Museum webpage), at an additional cost of €5 and upon reservation.

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The exhibition will illustrate the history not only of the most famous myth that links the foundation of the University of Pavia to the Capitulary of Lothair of the year 825 but also of two other myths, earlier and less known, that associated the foundation with the Lombard kings and Charlemagne.

The University was born, in all respects and officially, on the 13th of April 1361, with the foundation of the Studium Generale, by will of Galeazzo II Visconti. However, over the centuries, three different origins have been proposed: the first myth, Lombard, was proposed by the Visconti themselves as part of a plan to legitimize their political dominion, imagining the new institution as a continuation of the traditions and glorious past of the capital of the Lombard kingdom.

The second myth, Carolingian, took hold at the beginning of the 16th century, associating the foundation of the University directly with Charlemagne and the presence in Pavia of an Irish monk sent by the emperor, as in other places in Europe, to promote the development of knowledge. This myth was spread mainly by former students of the university, interested in giving prestige to the institution that had graduated them.

In the eighteenth century these myths began to be subjected to the scrutiny of historical criticism. The initiator of this scientific line, which aimed to “free the truth from so many fables”, was Ludovico Antonio Muratori, who is responsible not only for the first printed edition of the capitulary of Lothair I of 825 but also for an acute analysis that questioned the possibility of tracing a line of continuity between the ancient glorious cultural past of Pavia and the actual foundation of the University of Pavia in the Visconti era.

The third myth, that of the foundation attributable to the capitulary of Lothair of 825, arose in 1925 at the initiative of the University of Pavia itself to reaffirm the glorious solidity of the institution, in particular with respect to the very recent foundation of the University of Milan in 1924. Together with this line of claim, which allowed it to boast eleven centuries of life, a second line of claim was also drawn that allowed it to compete with the antiquity of the University of Bologna by adducing the existence in the 11th century in Pavia of a legal “school” headed by Lanfranco and the “ancient masters of Pavia”. The celebrations were impressive, registering, among other things, the participation of many representatives of universities from all over the world and the king of Italy Vittorio Emanuele III, who was awarded an honorary degree and presided over the inauguration of the monument to Lanfranco and the other jurists of Pavia erected in the courtyard of the Rectorate.

The Lothar myth was consolidated in 1961 during the celebrations for the 600th anniversary of the actual foundation of the university. For the occasion, it was decided to place the two high-reliefs of the emperor Lothar and the founder Galeazzo II Visconti that can be seen today at the entrance to the Central Palace of the University. An unfortunate mix-up, however, led to a “false Lothar” being depicted instead of the real one. The exhibition will also tell this story using in particular enlarged 3D reconstructions of the seals depicting the two emperors.

Scientific Committee: Lucio Fregonese, Dario Mantovani

Curators: Ester Maria Bernardi, Anna Letizia Magrassi Matricardi, Silvia Sanza