Type:

Luoghi della cultura; Ente/Istituzione

Category:

Science and technology museums; Museums of natural history and natural sciences

Our Physics Laboratory was first started By Alessandro Volta in 1775; he was headmaster and teacher of Physics in the school, located at the time in the previous Jesus College. The first machines date back to 1793. Between 1804 and 1818 Swiss neoclassic architect Simone Cantoni transformed the Monastery of S. Cecilia into a building suitable to host the present Lyceum and the town cultural facilities; a library, a botanic garden and an art gallery, on the model of Brera. The Physics Laboratory (today a library) resembles the Pantheon with its large vault, circular at the top. In 1838 opposite the church, the Laboratory of Natural Sciences was equipped, today in need of repairs. Today the Museum of Physics can be found in the northern part of the Lyceum, built between 1820 and1824 by Swiss architect Biagio Magistretti. The instruments donated by G: B: Gattoni, a friend of Volta's, make up the heart of the collection.