Glacial Errata, No. 55

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The Cesare Lombroso Museum of Criminal Anthropology in Turin, Italy, doesn’t offer much in the way of criminal anthropology. Lombroso (1835-1909) was in life notorious for his attempts to find a way to identify inherent criminality—examining skulls and other physical aspects, Lombroso believed it might be possible to identify potential criminals in advance through external characteristics. It’s the kind of awful thinking that leads, inevitably, to racist shit, of which Lombroso was exceedingly guitly.

Turin’s museum soft pedals and white washes a lot of Lombroso’s legacy, which is a shame, and as a place to learn about criminality, anthropology, or anything of scientific value, it is quite lacking. But the museum remains fascinating as a collection of truly stunning ephemera and oddities. Beyond the usual collections of skulls one might find in such a place, there’s a nice collection of daggers and other murder weapons, a goofy interactive exhibit on tattoos, and the actual gallows used in Turin in the mid-nineteenth century.

But among the more captivating collections (at least to me) they have on display is this collection of water pitchers that were dispensed to prisoners (the museum is somewhat fuzzy about when or where they’re from). Each one is individually decorated. Here are five among many that caught my eye.

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(More from the Lombroso Museum next week!)