Un giorno al Muse, il museo delle scienze di Trento

One day at the Muse, the Science Museum of Trento

Wood, steel, and glass: three elements that recall the beauty of nature, light and human work. From their union are born clean geometries and essential lines that form modern and functional architectures. Innovative buildings such as those that make up the district of Albere in the city of Trento, a beautiful example of environmental redevelopment following the dismantling of the Michelin factory, designed by architect Renzo Piano.

Near the shops and apartments of this futuristic residential complex is the Muse: the Trento Science Museum inaugurated in July 2013. The imposing structure is made light and luminous by large windows. It also doesn’t stride with the surrounding landscape but rather enhances it because it recalls the jagged profile of the Trentino mountains and in particular the Dolomites.

Paying a ticket of 10 euros for adults and 8 euros for children you can learn science in a fun and interactive way. The interior of the museum leaves without words: the heart of the structure is a great emptiness, in which not only are suspended taxidermied animals, but also the original and complete skeleton of a whale beached in 1995 on the coast of Livorno. The museum’s plans, dedicated to life on Earth, are developed around this original exhibition.

On the third floor, however, the gallery “In the labyrinth of alpine biodiversity” proposes a descent imagined along a mountain path in which there are 26 different environments enriched by 2 aquariums. You will have the suggestion of walking in nature, encountering wild animals and evocative landscapes. Each environment is revealed intuitively, using communication methods ranging from traditional taxidermized animals, “frozen” in plastic postures, to technological interactive virtual surfaces.

The Dolomites, UNESCO heritage, are the guiding thread that guides the visitor to discover the second floor dedicated to the evolution of the Alps and geological environments. Two aquariums enrich the path: the first reproduces a tropical reef with salty water and contains a typical coral reef ecosystem, the formation environment of the rocks that make up the Dolomites massifs. The second is a reconstruction of the cave environment.

The history of man, however, characterizes the first floor with an exhibition path, enriched by wax statues so realistic as to seem real people, in which there are findings that illustrate the main stages of cultural, economic and social evolution in the prehistory of Alps: the presence of Neanderthals on the southern Alpine massifs during the warmer phases of the last glacial period in the Middle Paleolithic, the arrival of Homo sapiens at the end of the great glaciations in the Upper Paleolithic and its diffusion within the valleys alpine in the Mesolithic, the introduction of agriculture and breeding in the Neolithic and the great technological innovation of metalwork in the protohistory.

The ground floor is child-proof thanks to the Maxi Ooh, space where children can approach science by discovering the five senses and where adults can return children with fun interactive stations dedicated to the laws of physics, mathematics, and science natural. Try the installation to listen to the music with your teeth!!

The basement, the last section of the museum before the exit, will introduce you to the dinosaurs. The fossil remains accompany the visitor on an incredible journey through time, from the appearance of the first molecules to the evolution of dinosaurs and mammals following the red thread of “our” history; that of the appearance of the first men.

To round off your visit, admire the greenhouse and the tropical aquariums.
With a surface of 600 square meters, the tropical greenhouse recreates a strip of the Udzungwa Mountains rainforest, a center of diversity and endemism of East Tropical Africa in Tanzania. It will be a journey in the journey in which among wood, steel, and glass, you can learn science, in spaces where nature and light enhance the wisdom of man.