Mole Antonelliana, Turin’s soaring brick landmark of cinema

Mole Antonelliana is the brick landmark that punctuates Turin’s skyline, its tall dome and needle?like spire rising above the city’s streets and squares. Built in the nineteenth century to a design by Alessandro Antonelli and completed in 1889, it now houses Italy’s National Museum of Cinema inside a shell originally conceived as a monumental synagogue.

A nineteenth?century monument reshaped over time

The story of Mole Antonelliana begins in the 1860s, when architect Alessandro Antonelli was commissioned by Turin’s Jewish community to design a new synagogue on land in the expanding northern part of the city.commissioned by Turin’s Jewish community Construction started in 1863, in the years following Italian unification, and pushed the limits of masonry engineering as Antonelli repeatedly raised the planned height of the structure.construction started in 1863

The building takes its name from a term used in Italian for monumental structures and from Antonelli himself, whose work on the Mole and other churches made him a central figure in nineteenth?century architecture.named after its architect Alessandro Antonelli Financial strain and the ever?growing project meant that the original patrons withdrew, and the City of Turin acquired the unfinished building in the 1870s, steering it away from its intended religious use toward a civic monument linked to national unity.made into a monument to national unity

Brick, dome and spire: a vertical composition

Mole Antonelliana rises to about 167.5 m (549 ft), making it one of the most striking vertical silhouettes in Turin and, at the time of its completion in 1889, the tallest brick building in Europe.height of 167.5 metres The building’s lower section is a substantial masonry base, above which a tall, faceted dome rises in stages, topped by a slender spire that extends the structure’s reach into the sky. The overall composition is markedly vertical, a stack of brick volumes and tapering forms that can be seen from many points in the city.

The interior reflects this vertical emphasis. A broad hall occupies the centre, with space rising towards the inner surface of the dome and galleries ringed around the void, creating a sense of height that mirrors the exterior profile.stunning Temple Hall surrounded by small chapels A panoramic lift, installed in the twentieth century, runs through this open volume towards an observation level high on the structure, reinforcing the connection between the building’s soaring outer form and the experience of its interior space.panoramic lift inaugurated in 1961

From civic monument to National Museum of Cinema

After the city took over the project, Mole Antonelliana became a symbol of the Italian Risorgimento, hosting collections devoted to the movement for national unification and serving as the Museum of the Italian Risorgimento until the late 1930s.served as the Museum of the Italian Risorgimento The building’s brick shell and towering dome thus became a backdrop for narratives about politics and identity, even though the structure itself had never served the synagogue function for which it was planned.never used as a synagogue

Since 2000, the Mole has housed the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, the National Museum of Cinema, which occupies multiple levels inside the tall volume with exhibitions on film history, Italian cinema and moving?image technology.Museo Nazionale del Cinema inside the Mole Displays and installations are arranged around the central hall and along the galleries, using screens, sets and artefacts to fill the tall interior volume with the material culture of cinema while leaving views towards the dome and the lift shaft.

Visiting Mole Antonelliana: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Mole Antonelliana stands in Turin’s historic centre, on Via Montebello, a street laid out on the city’s grid; it is reachable on foot from nearby central districts.
• The building’s height and the panoramic lift mean that visits involve moving between levels inside a tall structure, with stairs and platforms around the central hall and views out over the city from the upper section.
• The official language is Italian and the currency is the euro.

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Frequently asked questions about Mole Antonelliana

Where is Mole Antonelliana located?

Mole Antonelliana stands in the historic centre of Turin in northern Italy, on Via Montebello within walking distance of major central streets and squares.

What should visitors expect inside Mole Antonelliana?

Visitors encounter a tall central hall with exhibitions of film artefacts and installations, galleries on several levels, and a panoramic lift rising towards an upper viewing area.

What makes Mole Antonelliana distinctive among Turin’s landmarks?

Its combination of nineteenth?century brick construction, a soaring dome and spire, and its role as home to the National Museum of Cinema gives Mole Antonelliana a singular profile in Turin.