‘Un santuario scientifico' : the Case of the Tribuna di Galileo in Florence between Musealisation and Monumentalisation (1829-1929)

This article discusses the process of musealisation and monumentalisation of Galileo Galilei and the Accademia del Cimento between the 19th and the 20th centuries through the Tribuna dedicated to them. This was a monumental space located on the first floor of the Royal Museum of Physics and Natural History in Florence housing the original instruments and relics of Galileo and the Accademia del Cimento. Conceived by the museum Director, Vincenzo Antinori, and the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Leopoldo II, and inaugurated for the Third Meeting of Italian Scientists in 1841, the Tribuna was of fundamental importance in constructing the historical image of Galileo and would represent a model of musealisation in several cases until the beginning of the twentieth century. It will be shown how over the years its nature oscillated between monument and exhibition space with educational purposes, first in the context of the Tuscan Grand Duchy and then in that of post-1861 nation-building. [Publisher's text]

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