Mole Antonelliana: reviews, price and practical tips

The Mole Antonelliana: When Architectural Ambition Becomes the Beating Heart of Cinema

Soaring to 167.5 metres, this brick spire has pierced the Turin skyline since 1889. You can spot it from miles away, impossible to miss. With its neoclassical dome topped by a dizzying spire, the Mole Antonelliana embodies the outsized ambition of its architect, Alessandro Antonelli. What was supposed to be a synagogue turned into a symbol of Turin and the setting for the most spectacular cinema museum in the world.

Architecture That Defies Reason

The story begins in 1863, when the Jewish community of Turin hired Antonelli to build a temple. But the architect envisioned something much larger, pushing boundaries ever further. Costs skyrocketed, and construction dragged on for 26 years. As a result, the city bought the unfinished building in 1877 to turn it into a monument to national unity. This folie de grandeur created the tallest masonry building in Europe of its time.

The neoclassical columns on the ground floor contrast with the gothic verticality of the dome, an eclectic mix that some call kitsch and others call visionary genius.

The Temple of the Seventh Art That Defies Gravity

A Museum Organized Like a Spiral Toward the Stars

Since 2000, the National Museum of Cinema (Museo Nazionale del Cinema) has occupied the interior of the Mole. Push through the red velvet entrance curtain and you step behind the scenes. The tour starts on the lower level with the archaeology of cinema: Chinese shadow theaters, magic lanterns, kinetoscopes, and other ancestors of the big screen. These optical devices show how humanity mastered moving images long before the Lumière brothers.

The Temple Hall: A Dizzying 85-Metre Void

Reaching the third floor takes your breath away. The interior of the Mole is entirely hollow. Your gaze is pulled upward in this secular cathedral where a glass elevator climbs in 59 seconds to the dome. On the floor, red lounge chairs equipped with individual speakers face two giant screens. The dim lighting, animated projections on the vault, the imposing sculpture from the film Cabiria (1914), and the mechanical dial from Metropolis suspended overhead create a unique atmosphere.

You have to take a few minutes to sit down and watch a film clip in this temple dedicated to the silver screen.

Friendly tip: on Saturdays and Sundays at 12pm and 4:30pm, you can climb on foot between the shells of the dome, a little-known experience that reveals the building's internal architecture. Allow an hour for the climb and descent. Reservations are not necessary, but arrive early.

The Panoramic View That Makes the Trip Worthwhile

The panoramic elevator propels you 85 metres high for a 360-degree view. Turin spreads out beneath your feet with its red rooftops, geometric arcades, and baroque squares. Beyond that, the green hills of the Po and, on a clear day, the majestic barrier of the snowy Alps close the horizon. This viewpoint is the most comprehensive in the city, inaugurated in 1961 to celebrate the centenary of Italian unification.

Collections That Tell a Century of Magic

The museum preserves a massive heritage: 80,000 photographs, 300,000 posters, 20,000 devices, and 12,000 reels of film. The upper floors reveal themed rooms dedicated to westerns, science fiction, horror, and comedy. Costumes, sets, annotated scripts, and filming equipment: every object tells a story. The interactive set design by François Confino turns the visit into a cinematic experience where you are both spectator and actor.