The Mole Antonelliana is a major landmark of the Italian city of Turin. It is named for the architect who built it, Alessandro Antonelli. Construction began in 1863 and was completed 26 years later, after the architect's death. Nowadays it houses the National Museum of Cinema, and it is believed to be the tallest museum in the world.
The building was conceived and constructed as a synagogue. The Jewish community of Turin had enjoyed full civil ri...
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The Mole Antonelliana is a major landmark of the Italian city of Turin. It is named for the architect who built it, Alessandro Antonelli. Construction began in 1863 and was completed 26 years later, after the architect's death. Nowadays it houses the National Museum of Cinema, and it is believed to be the tallest museum in the world.
The building was conceived and constructed as a synagogue. The Jewish community of Turin had enjoyed full civil rights since 1848, and at the time the construction of the synagogue began, Turin was the capital of the new Italian State, a position it held only from 1860-64. The community, with a budget of 250,000 lira and the intention of having a building worthy of a capital city, hired Antonio Antonelli. Antonelli was notable for having recently added an "idiosyncratic" 121 metre-high dome and spire to the seventeenth-century Church of San Gaudenzio at Novara. He promised to build a synagogue for 280,000 lira. The relationship between Antonelli and the...
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