Mole Antonelliana
Antonelli's 1889 tower, Turin's emblem, housing the National Cinema Museum and a glass panoramic lift.
The Mole Antonelliana was begun in 1863 as a synagogue for Turin's Jewish community, to a design by Alessandro Antonelli. Costs and the architect's repeated changes of scale led the community to hand the shell to the city in 1877, and it was completed in 1889 as a monument to Victor Emmanuel II. At 167 metres it was for a time the tallest masonry building in Europe, and its aluminium spire, toppled by a storm in 1953, was rebuilt in steel.
Since 2000 the building has held the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, whose collection began with the film historian Maria Adriana Prolo. Visitors pass from optical toys and magic lanterns into the Temple Hall, where chaises longues let them watch projections under the dome, then climb a helical ramp lined with displays on genres and film-making. A glass lift runs up through the middle of the hall in under a minute to a terrace at 85 metres with views over the city to the Alps.
Highlights
- 167-metre masonry tower with stepped dome and spire
- Glass lift rising through the hall to the panoramic terrace
- National Cinema Museum arranged on a helical ramp
- Landmark that appears on the Italian two-cent coin
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