Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile

The museum building, work of architect Amedeo Albertini.
Reproduction of a Cugnot.
Fiat 12 HP.

The Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile (The National Automobile Museum), founded by Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia, is an automobile museum in Turin, northern Italy. The museum has a collection of almost 200 cars[1] among eighty automobile brands representing eight countries (Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, United States of America, Poland).[2] The museum is situated in a building dating from 1960, and it has three floors. After restructuring in 2011 the museum is open again, and its exhibition area has been expanded from 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft) to 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft).[3] The museum also has its own library, documentation centre, bookshop and auditorium.[4]

The collection includes the first Italian cars, a Bernardi from 1896 and a Fiat from 1899, a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost from 1914, and racing cars by Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Also included are for instance an 1893 Benz Victoria, an 1894 Peugeot, a 1904 Oldsmobile, the 1907 Itala from the Peking to Paris race, a 1913 De Dion-Bouton, a 1916 Ford T and a 1928 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A.

Documentation Centre

The Documentation Centre collects historical data sheets, photographs, documents, sales brochures, construction diagrams, and everything related to cars that were unable to collect over the years. The collection consists of photographs by tens of thousands of prints in black and white and it works in conjunction with the Ministry for Cultural Heritage.

Library

The Library has about 7,000 texts, most of them out of print and hard to find. It is divided into seven sections (history of locomotion, history brands, race, technology, biographies, economy and others). Most of the volumes date back to the first phase of the automotive industry, from birth until the 1950s.

References

  1. ↑ "Museum history". Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  2. ↑ "Museo dell' Automobile Turin". bella-torino.com. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  3. ↑ "Museo automobile di Torino vince il premio". Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  4. ↑ "Car Museums in Italy". consar0.startlogic.com. Retrieved 2008-04-02.

External links

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