Mole Antonelliana rises above Turin as a cinema museum

Mole Antonelliana gives Turin a 167-metre landmark whose former synagogue design now frames the National Museum of Cinema.

Mole Antonelliana rises above Turin as a tall masonry landmark with a museum inside its soaring central space. Designed by Alessandro Antonelli, the building began in 1863 and reached completion in 1889, while its present height is about 167.5 metres.

Mole Antonelliana and the vertical form of Turin

The building stands on Via Montebello in Turin’s historic centre. Its lower mass is formed from masonry, above which a tall, tapering dome rises in stages towards a slender spire. The changing profile is visible across the city and remains closely associated with Turin’s urban identity.

Alessandro Antonelli planned the building in the nineteenth century for Turin’s Jewish community, with the original project conceived as a synagogue. Construction began in 1863, and the Comune di Torino took responsibility for the incomplete structure before the work reached completion in 1889. The museum’s historical account records this change in ownership and the building’s later development.

From synagogue project to national cinema museum

The building was never used as a synagogue. Its public functions changed during the twentieth century, including a period as a home for the Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento Italiano. Since 2000, the Mole has housed the Museo Nazionale del Cinema.

The museum presents film through objects, images, screens, sets and technical material. Exhibits occupy the central hall and the surrounding galleries, placing cinema history within the building’s unusual interior volume. The open space beneath the dome remains a defining part of the visit, with displays arranged around and above it.

The museum’s collection connects the history of moving images with the development of projection, photography and film production. Italian cinema forms an important part of the presentation, while the building itself supplies a distinctive setting for objects that range from early optical devices to film-related memorabilia. The Museo Nazionale del Cinema occupies the address at Via Montebello 20.

Inside the dome and above Turin’s roofs

The interior is organised around a broad central void that extends beneath the dome. Galleries and installations occupy the surrounding levels, while the panoramic lift travels vertically through the open space. Its transparent cabin makes the internal height visible during the ascent.

The panoramic terrace sits 85 metres above the ground, within the crown known as the tempietto. From this elevated platform, Turin spreads around the building, with the Alps visible beyond the city in suitable atmospheric conditions. The terrace is separate from the summit of the spire, which continues far above it.

The contrast between the building’s heavy masonry base and its open interior is central to the experience. Outside, the Mole forms a tall, faceted silhouette. Inside, the museum’s galleries frame an empty vertical volume, with the lift crossing the space between the floor and the terrace.

The building also belongs to Turin’s history of nineteenth-century architecture. Its construction followed Italian unification, and its completion placed an ambitious civic monument within the expanding city. Antonelli’s name remains inseparable from the structure, as does the building’s combination of engineering, decoration and vertical scale.

Visiting Mole Antonelliana: what travellers from Western Europe should know

• Mole Antonelliana stands at Via Montebello 20 in central Turin, within walking reach of Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the River Po.
• The building contains the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, with galleries arranged around a tall central hall beneath the dome.
• The panoramic terrace is 85 metres above ground level and is reached by the panoramic lift or by a walking route through the dome.
• The upper route involves stairs inside the dome, while the lift crosses the museum’s central open volume.
• The official language is Italian and the currency is the euro.

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Frequently asked questions about Mole Antonelliana

Where is Mole Antonelliana?

Mole Antonelliana is at Via Montebello 20 in Turin, Piedmont, near the River Po and Piazza Vittorio Veneto.

What can visitors see inside?

The building contains the Museo Nazionale del Cinema, with film exhibits, technical objects, galleries and installations around a tall central hall.

What makes the building distinctive?

Its 167.5-metre masonry profile combines a tall tapering dome, a slender spire and an open interior crossed by a panoramic lift.