Description
The Mole Antonelliana is the symbol of Turin: a 167-meter tower in the old town, on Via Montebello, with a square dome and a slender spire you can see from half the city. Inside is the National Museum of Cinema, and up top a panorama over the city and the Alps.
If you come for the view, take the panoramic elevator: the glass cabin rises through the middle of the atrium in about a minute, crossing the dome in mid-air, up to the Tempietto at 85 meters. The ride is already half the experience.
From the balcony of the Tempietto the view takes in Turin in a full 360 degrees, with the rooftops, the avenues and the mountains in the background. On the way up you also see the dome up close, with walls just 12 centimeters thick.
Inside, the National Museum of Cinema has filled the building since 2000, with optical devices, magic lanterns and pieces from the sets of the first films. It deserves a visit of its own, but even a single look up from the atrium is worth the trip.
Outside, on the south side, stands Il volo dei numeri by Mario Merz: the start of the Fibonacci sequence, in glowing numbers climbing toward the sky, part of the city's Luci d'Artista festival of light art.
It was meant to be a 47-meter synagogue. In 1863 the Jewish community entrusted the project to Alessandro Antonelli, who kept raising it higher while the costs climbed. In 1869, out of funds, the community had the building site closed with a temporary roof at 70 meters.
In 1873 the city took over the building in exchange for a plot in San Salvario, where the present synagogue stands, and Antonelli started climbing again. He worked on the Mole until his death in 1888: nearly ninety, he had himself hoisted dozens of meters up in a sort of pulley-driven elevator to check on the work in person.
It was inaugurated on April 10, 1889, ten days after the Eiffel Tower, and was the tallest masonry building in the world. Nietzsche called it "perhaps the most brilliant architectural work ever built."
The sky, though, has never left it in peace. In 1904 a storm brought down the Winged Genius at the top. In 1953 a tornado snapped off 47 meters of spire, which crashed into the garden of the RAI headquarters.
Don't miss
• The panoramic elevator.
• The Tempietto.
• The National Museum of Cinema.
• Il volo dei numeri.
Did you know?
• People in Turin have always mistaken the Winged Genius for an angel. The statue that fell is still kept inside the Mole.
• The star on top, 2.4 meters across, has twelve points: the original had five.
If you come for the view, take the panoramic elevator: the glass cabin rises through the middle of the atrium in about a minute, crossing the dome in mid-air, up to the Tempietto at 85 meters. The ride is already half the experience.
From the balcony of the Tempietto the view takes in Turin in a full 360 degrees, with the rooftops, the avenues and the mountains in the background. On the way up you also see the dome up close, with walls just 12 centimeters thick.
Inside, the National Museum of Cinema has filled the building since 2000, with optical devices, magic lanterns and pieces from the sets of the first films. It deserves a visit of its own, but even a single look up from the atrium is worth the trip.
Outside, on the south side, stands Il volo dei numeri by Mario Merz: the start of the Fibonacci sequence, in glowing numbers climbing toward the sky, part of the city's Luci d'Artista festival of light art.
It was meant to be a 47-meter synagogue. In 1863 the Jewish community entrusted the project to Alessandro Antonelli, who kept raising it higher while the costs climbed. In 1869, out of funds, the community had the building site closed with a temporary roof at 70 meters.
In 1873 the city took over the building in exchange for a plot in San Salvario, where the present synagogue stands, and Antonelli started climbing again. He worked on the Mole until his death in 1888: nearly ninety, he had himself hoisted dozens of meters up in a sort of pulley-driven elevator to check on the work in person.
It was inaugurated on April 10, 1889, ten days after the Eiffel Tower, and was the tallest masonry building in the world. Nietzsche called it "perhaps the most brilliant architectural work ever built."
The sky, though, has never left it in peace. In 1904 a storm brought down the Winged Genius at the top. In 1953 a tornado snapped off 47 meters of spire, which crashed into the garden of the RAI headquarters.
Don't miss
• The panoramic elevator.
• The Tempietto.
• The National Museum of Cinema.
• Il volo dei numeri.
Did you know?
• People in Turin have always mistaken the Winged Genius for an angel. The statue that fell is still kept inside the Mole.
• The star on top, 2.4 meters across, has twelve points: the original had five.