The Natural History Museum, set up in the former Elementary School of Chies d’Alpago, was inaugurated and opened to the public on June 22, 2002. Owned by the Alpago Mountain Community, it was designed by Ivan Fossa, a passionate naturalist from Puos d’Alpago, in response to the numerous requests from local scholars and teachers from various schools to bring together and preserve the great natural wealth of the Belluno area in a structure publicly accessible.

The installations, which required several years of work and the economic commitment of the local Mountain Community and the Municipality of Chies d’Alpago, were organized with skill and professionalism in collaboration with Prof. Edoardo Semenza, professor of Geology at the University. of Ferrara, who recently passed away, Prof. Renzo Stefani, professor of Comparative Anatomy at the University of Cagliari, and other collaborators.

The results of many years of patient work are now enjoyable on the three floors of the building which exhibits a wealth of educational collections and finds from all sections of the Natural Sciences referable to the Province of Belluno.
Of particular interest we can mention the dioramas, the rich collections of mushrooms and wood in section (xylotheque) and, among the exhibits, a mandible of Odontoceto (fish similar to dolphins, which populated the ancient sea of ​​the Alpago ) and again, in the exhibition dedicated to fish, the well-known Sanpierolo, an endemic fish of Lake Santa Croce.

The visit to the museum begins with the section of vertebrate zoology, which occupies the entire ground floor of the building. The large number of animals on display is immediately striking. All the faunal groups of the province of Belluno – fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals – are well represented here and preserved in excellent condition.
Continuing the visit to the first floor, the zoological picture is completed with the rich collections of Insects, Spiders, Butterflies and Mollusks. Two rooms dedicated to Geology and Mineralogy offer various characteristic aspects of the area and various finds that testify to the geological history of the Alpaqo and the Dolomites.

Suitable spaces are reserved for Paleontology, Archeology and Human Anatomy. On the top floor we find the large Botany and dioramas room. A series of educational panels is dedicated to Algae, Lichens, Mosses, Ferns, higher plants and plant associations. Of great value and originality is a very rich collection of mushrooms (mycoteca) which counts almost 200 samples of Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes, and the xylotheque, that is an exhibition of wood samples from trees and shrubs present in the province of Belluno.

A series of dioramas, dedicated to prehistoric hunters, macromammals, the humid environment, the alpine environment and hibernation, completes the exhibition.