Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino
Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile is located in Turin
Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile
Location within Turin
Established3 November 1960 (1960-11-03)[1]
LocationCorso Unità d'Italia 40, Turin, Italy
Coordinates45°01′55″N 7°40′17″E / 45.0318545°N 7.6713941°E / 45.0318545; 7.6713941
TypeAutomobile museum
CollectionsCars and automibiles
DirectorMariella Mengozzi
Websitewww.museoauto.com

The Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile di Torino (National Automobile Museum), known as MAUTO, is an automobile museum in Turin, Italy, founded by Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia. The museum has a collection of almost 200 cars[2] among eighty automobile brands representing eight countries (Italy, France, Great Britain, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, United States of America, Poland).[3] The museum is situated in a building dating from 1960, and it has three floors. After restructuring in 2011 the museum is open again, and its exhibition area has been expanded from 11,000 square metres (120,000 sq ft) to 19,000 square metres (200,000 sq ft).[4] The museum also has its own library, documentation centre, bookshop and auditorium.[5]

Collection

The museum's collection includes the first Italian cars, a Bernardi from 1896 and a Fiat from 1899, a Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost from 1914, and racing cars by Ferrari and Alfa Romeo. Also included are for instance an 1893 Benz Victoria, an 1894 Peugeot, a 1904 Oldsmobile, the 1907 Itala from the Peking to Paris race, a 1913 De Dion-Bouton, a 1916 Ford T and the 1929 Isotta Fraschini Tipo 8A that starred in Sunset Boulevard.

Documentation Centre

The entrance to the museum building, work of architect Amedeo Albertini, before the 2011 restoration.

The Documentation Centre collects historical data sheets, photographs, documents, sales brochures, construction diagrams, and everything related to cars that they were able to collect over the years. The collection consists of photographs by tens of thousands of prints in black and white and it works in conjunction with the Ministry for Cultural Heritage.

Library

The museum's library holds about 7,000 texts, most of them out of print and hard to find. It is divided into seven sections (history of locomotion, history of brands, racing, technology, biographies, economy, and others). Most of the volumes date back to the first phases of the automotive industry, from the beginning until the 1950s.

References

  1. Griglià, Remo (3 November 1960). "Dal landò al vapore alla Fiat Turbina". Stampa Sera (in Italian). p. 9. Retrieved 30 November 2015. Se Firenze, a buon diritto, aduna nei suoi musei le più alte espressioni artistiche del Rinascimento italiano, è logico e giusto che a Torino sia sorto il Museo dell'Automobile inaugurato stamane.
  2. "Museum history". Retrieved 2011-01-22.
  3. "Museo dell' Automobile Turin". bella-torino.com. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
  4. "Museo automobile di Torino vince il premio IN/ARCH-ANCE". Archived from the original on 2013-10-17. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
  5. "Car museums in Italy". consar0.startlogic.com. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
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