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Mole Antonelliana - Virtual Tour 360°

La Mole Antonelliana is a building in Turin, located in the historic center, symbol of the city and one of the symbols of Italy.

With a height of 167.5 meters, it was the tallest masonry building in the world from 1889 to 1908.

The name derives from the fact that, in the past, it was the highest masonry construction in Europe, while its adjective derives from the architect who conceived it, Alessandro Antonelli.

11 August 1904: the fall of the Winged Genius
The statue of the Winged Genius, located on the tip, was knocked down during a storm probably by lightning, on 11 August 1904 (around 6:15 pm), but remained prodigiously poised on the terrace below, despite its three quintals of weight. ; the statue was kept inside the Mole and is still mistaken for an angel today.

1906: the 5-pointed star (167.35 meters)
In place of the genius, at the beginning of 1906 a five-pointed star, similar in shape to the original one, was placed on the head of the genius, in copper of about 4 meters in diameter, by the engineer Ernesto Ghiotti, the then head of the public works of the Municipality of Turin.

The Mole thus returned to a height of 167.35 meters. Architect Annibale Rigotti decorated the interior of the building between 1905 and 1908.

The star of the Mole (alongside the cav. Giuseppe Perottino)

It was also one of the first buildings to be illuminated at night, at the time through gas lamps.

However, during the twentieth century, it underwent major renovations with reinforced concrete and steel beams, so it can no longer be considered an exclusively masonry structure.

On October 18, 1908, the Mole became the seat of the Museum of the Risorgimento which, however, was moved in 1938 to Palazzo Carignano.

Since then the Mole was used only as a venue for impromptu exhibitions until 2000 which became a permanent museum.

Now it hosts one of the most important Cinema Museums, discover it here>

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Originally

In 1848, with the promulgation of the Albertine Statute by Carlo Alberto, official freedom of worship was granted to non-Catholic religions. The Turin Jewish community bought the land in the area called, at the time, the "Contrada del cannon d'oro" (the current Via Montebello), to erect a new temple, with an adjoining school. The original project foresaw a building only 47 meters high, and was signed on December 15, 1862. The construction sites started immediately after authorization with the Royal Decree of March 17, 1863.

In 1873, the Israelite community, strongly disappointed by these problems and additional costs, bartered the work with the Municipality of Turin, which gave it a piece of land in the San Salvario district, where the current synagogue now stands, and took charge of the costs of completion of the Antonellian building (about 40,000 lire at the time), in order to dedicate it to the king of Italy Vittorio Emanuele II. It was inaugurated in March 1888.

Map: Mole Antonelliana - Virtual Tour 360°