One of the 10 most popular museums in Italy is in the city of Trento, with over 500 thousand visitors a year
ROME, February 6th 2017 – It is now plain for all to see: Muse is not only one of the most active science museums in our country, but it is also doing away with the widely-held preconception that science should only be for an elite circle of scholars and experts. This museum, designed by the renowned architect Renzo Piano, represents exactly the opposite idea. Here the visitor is immersed in the world of the science laboratory, personally experiencing it and learning its secrets.
Michele Lanzinger, the director of the museum, explains this to Labozeta in an exclusive interview: “Our goal was to create a museum that would give an even greater value to our important experiences in terms of scientific research and activities for the public, as well as the professionalism of the team of researchers and “interpreters of science” that we had developed from the ’90s onwards, operating in the previous Tridentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Trento”.
“I believe – continues Lanzinger – that one of the factors that make our work outstanding is the fact that the museum is first and foremost a place of research, where the laboratories have a vital role in supporting research activities. One set of laboratories is dedicated to the natural sciences, while others are more advanced, being dedicated to taxonomic and naturalistic research with an significant molecular component. I would also like to point out that these research laboratories are an integral part of the dialogue between the museum and its visitors, and that they too belong to the spaces that can be visited by the public. Those who work there are something like “researchers in a display-cabinet”, as my collaborators say with a bit of welcome irony, with researchers taking the place of stuffed animals and scientific specimens!”
“But really – says Lanzinger – also our researchers are very pleased to be able to contribute to the pleasure that the public expresses while visiting our museum. Their visit can be modified according to the research that is currently underway and they can learn directly from the researchers about why they are concentrating on this or that taxonomic group or natural environment. I should explain that we have some visiting hours in which the public can look inside or even enter the “safe” zones of a laboratory and personally interact with the researchers during their work.”
“At Muse – says Claudio Pancheri of Labozeta Spa – we have realized laboratories for chemistry, botany, entomology, geology, prehistory and zoology. These are carefully designed and realized spaces with a dual function of research and teaching, which make it possible to experience and share knowledge and expertise in the greatest possible safety. It is an ideal place that is accessible to everyone. “