Founded in 1982, the museum was born from the rediscovery of historical materials of the Aldini Valeriani Technical Institute, promoted by the municipality of Bologna on the occasion of the centenary of the city’s oldest technical school. The research, conducted by a group of economic history scholars from the University of Bologna, resulted in the exhibition “Macchine Scuola Industria” held in the former Sala Borsa between 1980 and 1981. From then until the mid-1990s, the museum’s collection found space in a wing of the building housing the school institute. Today the museum, located at the former Galotti kiln, tells the story of industrial Bologna, from the Middle Ages to the present day. The collections consist of a core made up of materials from the technical institutes used for educational applications: tools, models, machines powered by hydraulic, electric, and steam energy, and models presented at international exhibitions of the last century. Over time, the museum collection has been enriched with equipment, automatic packaging machines, prototypes and models for the motor, mechanical, electronic sectors, printing equipment and lastly medical devices, documenting the diversity of industrial heritage and the excellence reached by the city in these sectors. The museum embodies a decidedly original approach to the themes of industrial archaeology – considered in the broader sense of “industrial heritage” – following a method not unlike that adopted by the Museum of Peasant Civilization of San Marino di Bentivoglio. In particular, studies on the productive structure of Bologna during the ancien régime have been translated into an exhibition path whose keystone is the history of silk production, founded on an urban hydraulic system capable of supplying energy to a large number of driving wheels (the highest concentration was reached in the 17th century) distributed along the canal routes in the city. Among the most important pieces is the 1:2 scale wooden model of a 17th-century Bolognese silk mill, built by teachers and students of the institute based on original drawings of the era. There is a close relationship with the Bolognese industrial world, documented by the collections that make up the exhibition path. There are also intense exchanges with scientific structures dedicated to the enhancement of the world’s industrial heritage. The museum path is accompanied by an archive and a historic library.
Information about the Museum of Industrial Heritage
Via della Beverara, 123,
40121 Bologna (Bologna)
0516356611
museopat@comune.bologna.it
https://www.comune.bologna.it/patrimonioindustriale/
From January 1st to May 31st and from October 1st to December 31st: Tuesday-Friday from 9 am to 1 pm; Saturday from 9 am to 1 pm and 3 pm to 6 pm; Sunday from 3 pm to 6 pm. From June 1st to September 30th: Monday-Friday from 9 am to 1 pm.
5.00 euros
Source: MIBACT
