Museum of the History of Science and the Galileo Museum in Florence

The Museo di Storia della Scienza (Museum of the History of Science) has undergone a two-year renovation involving a complete redesign of its exhibition areas and displays.

Today, it reopens under the new name of Museo Galileo, the Galileo Museum. The event coincides with the 400th anniversary of Sidereus Nuncius—“the Starry Messenger”—the work published in March 1610 in which Galileo announced the sensational observations made with his telescope.

The reopening also marks a fitting conclusion to the celebrations of the International Astronomy Year (2009), a U.N./UNESCO initiative specifically intended to commemorate the celestial discoveries of the scientist from Pisa (1609).

The Florence museum is home to the only surviving instruments designed and built by Galileo himself. The most important are two original telescopes and the objective lens of the telescope with which Galileo discovered Jupiter’s moons.

More generally, the Museum is the repository for the priceless scientific collections of the two dynasties that once ruled Florence: the Medici and the House of Lorraine. The Museum’s international renown makes the inauguration of the Museo Galileo one of the key cultural events in the world this year.

For more information follow this link to Museo Scienza