Galileo Museum
In 1642 Galileo Galilei, whose family vault was in Santa Croce, was initially buried almost in secret in a tiny spot close to the Chapel of the Novitiate. It was not until almost a century after his death that the great scientist’s body was moved to the imposing celebratory monument designed by Giovan Battista Foggini in the north aisle of the basilica to a commission from Grand Duke Gian Gastone de’ Medici (1671 – 1737) in keeping with the latter’s cultural policy based on sweeping modernisation.
The Galileo Museum and Santa Croce
A parallel visit to the Museo Galileo allows you to reconstruct the history of scientific initiative in Florence and Tuscany around the emblematic figure of the great Pisan scientist. The Houses of Medici and Lorraine offered their protection and patronage for centuries to immensely talented scientists ranking among the leading players in some of the most important theoretical and practical breakthroughs in modern science. The Museo Galileo - Istituto e Museo di Storia della Scienza hosts Galileo’s only two surviving telescopes and other instruments that he devised and built, in addition to the extraordinarily valuable scientific collections of the Houses of Medici and Lorraine.
The museum tour (comprising over 1,000 instruments and apparatus of immense scientific importance, but also of outstanding beauty) reconstructs the historical and cultural context in which the collections of the Houses of Medici and Lorraine were brought together, the locations in which they were housed, the ambitions of the patrons who commissioned them and the work of the scientists involved. The figure of Galileo is the hub around which the entire exhibition revolves, the Medici collection bearing witness to the scientific and cultural climate in which he trained.
Organise your visit
The Museo Galileo offers holders of tickets to the monumental complex of Santa Croce a reduction on the full price of admission to the museum. The ticket to Santa Croce must bear a date in the current year and must be shown at the museum ticket office when purchasing admission. The discount cannot be added to any other discounts from which the holder may benefit.
Opening hours
The museum is open daily from 9.30 am to 6.00 pm; Tuesdays from 9.30 am to 1.00 pm. The museum is closed on Christmas Dday, 25 December, and on New Yea’s Day, 1 January. Admission: €8.00 (instead of €13.00)
For further informationi: www.museogalileo.it