Mole Antonelliana with snow

Last winter, I realized that I had never photographed the Mole Antonelliana as seen by the royal gardens.
In this website you will find some other photos of the Mole Antonelliana, it is virtually impossible to come to Turin to photograph the city without its symbol, the one which makes it a unique city with a unique profile.

The construction of the Mole Antonelliana began in 1863, and was originally intended to be a Jewish synagogue.
The draft of the Mole Antonelliana was revealed long and costly and a series of changes made by Antonelli, the architect of this work, raised the building to 113 meters.
With the meters and the changes grew the costs, so that the Jewish community abandoned the idea and made an exchange with the city of Turin giving the Mole Antonelliana partially built in exchange for another land to build the synagogue.

Antonelli resumed the construction, with a number of changes, so that the overall height came to 167.5 m, making it the tallest brick building in Europe and in the world, until May 23, 1953 at 19:25.
The Mole Antonelliana was inaugurated in 1889 as home to the “Museo del Risorgimento”.

The statue of a “winged genius” was located on the top of the monument but was demolished by a lightning during the storm on 11 August 1904, remaining wonderfully balanced on the balcony, it was replaced by a star with five points and was 4 meter higher. The statue can still be seen inside and is almost always mistaken for an angel.
The Mole Antonelliana miraculously escaped the U.S. bombing of the Second World War, but May 23, 1953 at 19:25 a violent storm, accompanied by a tornado, plunged 47 meters of spike in the small garden below, miraculously without damage people.
It was rebuilt in 1961 no longer with stone and brick, but with an internal metal structure covered with stone.
Once transferred the “Museo del Risorgimento” in Palazzo Carignano, between 1960 and 1990, the Mole Antonelliana has been used for temporary exhibitions and its terrace as a view point.
After the last renovation, it has become the permanent seat of the National Museum of Cinema.

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