Museo Galileo, Florence, Tuscany, Italy, Europe

The Museo Galileo (formerly the Museum of history of science and then Institute and Museum of the History of Science) in Florence is located in Piazza dei Giudici, just behind the square of the Uffizi, in the palace Castellani, a severe medieval building with three floors. Holds one of the most important scientific collections nationally and internationally. On 8 June 2010, after a two-year closure for renovations, the museum of the history of science has reopened to the public with the new name of “Museo Galileo“. The opening coincides with the 400th anniversary of the Sidereus Nuncius, the work was published in March 1610 with which Galileo Galilei popularized the sensational new show him from the telescope. The building stands on the site of the ancient castle of Altafronte , dating from the late eleventh century , which was the fortress that protected the Arno river port and was part of the circle of the ancient walls of Florence . The name comes from Altafronte family who owned it until 1180, when it was ceded to the powerful Ghibelline family of Uberti . As a result , damaged by the flood of 1333 and now deeply altered , passed to Castellani , who built the present palace . From 1574 to 1841 it housed the Justices of the wheel , to which the signs near the entrance to the walled palace : this is also sometimes referred to as the palace of the Judges, not to be confused with the art palace of Judges and Notaries in the way proconsul . The name “ judges wheel “ comes from the fact that they were chosen on a rotating among graduates in law and they sbrigavano civil cases . The palace was the subject of a heavy restoration in the first half of the nineteenth century and for a time it housed the collection of manuscripts in the National Library , up to the 20s . Among the prestigious institutions that have been established in the building we can not forget the Accademia della Crusca and the Deputation of the country’s history for Tuscany . Since 1930 the public domain , which owns the building , has awarded the Institute and Museum of the History of Science , which now occupies the whole building . In 1839 it was restored by the architect Francesco Leoni. During some restoration work between 2002 and 2003 have been unearthed in the basement four imposing arches of the foundation stone of the castle Altafronte dating back to Medieval times . Interesting is the loggia on the top floor overlooking the Arno , now backed by windows . The museum was inaugurated in 1930 and collects valuable scientific instruments in part from the collections mediecee, once exhibited at the Museum of the Observatory attiguamente Palazzo Pitti, in part, from the collections Arcispedale of Santa Maria Nuova, partly through purchases from other sources and donations. In fact, if the branch of the Medici Lorenzo the Magnificent and Cosimo the Elder had a great love for the artistic patronage , the branch of the Grand Dukes , who came to power with Cosimo I in 1537 , protected and stimulated the sciences. The objects and equipment on display covering a time span from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century , and although initially the show was a pure display of memorabilia ( such as the famous telescope of Galileo), after the reorganization after the flood (1966) and the renewal of 1991 has become a scientific research institute for Italian and foreign scholars . The exhibition is a thematic basis of twenty rooms . In addition to the aforementioned telescopes belonged to Galileo Galilei , the museum also preserves the thermoscope , the geometric compass military , the inclined plane and a primitive “ microscope “ . It also preserves a collection of instruments of the Accademia del Cimento , founded in 1657, with instruments for experiments on the thermodynamics, the void , the sound and the compressibility of liquids . One of the larger rooms contains a collection of antique globe and celestial spheres , with a great armillary sphere in carved and gilded wood used for complex astronomical calculations , made ​​by Antonio Santucci between 1588 and 1593 . The museum is also rich in many other instruments from different countries and different eras , including a series of scientific divertissement of the grand-ducal court , such as machines that create optical illusions , games of lenses and also a unique machine that revealed the purity of diamonds, however, because destroying acting on carbon , which are compounds , causing irreparable combustion. Part of the Institute since its founding , the library of the museum is now located on the third floor roof terrace of the building in the old Castellani.