Group and guided visits
Workshops and Experiences 2006-2007

The Museum Offers

The Medici and Lorraine collections of scientific instruments, nowadays preserved at the Museo di Storia della Scienza, are among the most important in the world. The astounding instruments collected are both objects of refined craftsmanship and testimony to the material progress of scientific knowledge in the modern age. Upon careful examination of these instruments, we can learn the development of cartography, the diffusion of drawing methods, the perfection of measuring time and space, astronomical discoveries, and the subsequent progresses in mechanics, chemistry and electromagnetism.

Museum Visits

Group Visits
For scholastic and group visits, it is obligatory to book in advance and the booking is only valid after receiving confirmation from the booking office. This information must be presented at the museum ticket office on the day of the visit. Groups greater than 25 participants will be divided into two or more distinct groups. 

A complete visit requires approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

• Ticket price per person:
€ 3.00 school groups (7-15 years)
€ 4.00 groups (min. 15 participants)
free entrance for educators/chaperones (max. 2 per group)

Didactic Visits
This service is organized in collaboration with Musei Scientifici Fiorentini.

The cost of a visit with an educational guide is € 57.00 in Italian, € 77.00 in other languages and does not include entrance tickets to the Museum. The payment for the guide must be made to the Postal account no. 31542509 and made out to Musei Scientifici Fiorentini. Payment is to be made prior to the visit, specifying on the payment form the name of the school and the date of visit. A copy of the payment receipt must be faxed to 055 2654696 at least 10 days prior to the visit.

The guided visit requires approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Specific Experience Visits
This partially guided visit includes demonstrations of functioning antique instruments while being introduced to the rich history of the collections and the evolution of science.

The guided visit requires approximately 1 hour, includes museum entrance fee and is available in Italian or English.

Please note:: it is possible to book this visit only from September 2006 to February 2007.

• Ticket price per person (includes Museum entrance ticket):
€ 4.00 school groups (7-15 years)
€ 5.00 groups (min. 15 participants)
free entrance for educators/chaperones (max. 2 per group)

• Hours available:
10:00-11:00 / 11:30-12:30 / 14:00-15:00 / 15:30-16:30

Accompanied Visits for the Visually Impaired
A docent presents to the visually impaired visitor a variety of objects on display in the museum. It is possible to touch some of the original instruments and handle replicas to gain a full understanding of their context in the historic evolution of science. This experience and museum entrance are free of charge.

Activities

Educational Activities
The interactive workshops focus on developing the varied disciplines of the museum’s collections by hands-on activities and demonstrations using replicas of instruments found in the museum’s collection: gaining a full understanding of their context and importance.  This is followed by an accompanied visit to the rooms in the museum dedicated to the instruments -- reinforcing what was discovered during the workshop and revealing its historical importance.

• All workshops are available in Italian and English; workshops 1 and 2 also available in French.
• The workshops require about 1 hour and are followed by a 30 minute accompanied visit to the museum.

• Ticket price per person (includes Museum entrance ticket):
€ 4.00 school groups (7-15 years)
€ 5.00 groups (min. 15 participants)
free entrance for educators/chaperones (max. 2 per group)

• A minimum of 10 participants is required or smaller groups pay the same cost.

• Hours available:
9.30-11.00 / 11.00-12.30 / 14.30-16.00

1. The Eye of Leonardo: the Science of Art
In keeping with themes explored in the exhibit: Leonardo’s Mind (Uffizi Gallery: March 2006 – January 2007) the workshop offers an engaging journey into the techniques and knowledge which, according to Leonardo, made painting the most noble among the sciences.  Using interactive models, one can replicate some of Leonardo’s optical experiments, in order to discover the workshop’s secretswhich were behind the special skills of many artists during the Renaissance. 
Humanities, Fine Arts and Science Students (available in Italian, English or French)

2. The Image of the World: Cartography between Art and Science
The world has two aspects: that which we see around us – a mere appearance – and that which we can only see from above, flying high. This second aspect, showing the true dimensions of the world, is the one represented by ancient mapmakers who were able to fly with their imaginations under the guide of special measuring instruments.  The workshop offers the possibility to try such instruments to create maps.
Humanities, Fine Arts and Science Students (available in Italian, English or French)

3. Galileo and the Copernican System
In 1609 Galileo Galilei perfected a Dutch optical game that enlarged images two to three times. The result – the telescope – allowed him to make sensational astronomical discoveries demolishing the ancient geocentric concept. In the workshop an animator dressed as Galileo reveals of such discoveries and validates the Copernican theory.
Humanities and Science Students (available in Italian or English)

4. Galileo and Mechanics
All his life Galileo attempted to dismantle the communal concept of the natural motion of bodies as conceived by the 4th century B.C.E Greek philosopher Aristotle. In the workshop an animator dressed as Galileo outlines the cognitive processes that form the analysis of free falling bodies. This allowed the great scientist to propose the basis for a new physics valid for both terrestrial and celestial bodies.
Humanities and Science Students (available in Italian or English)

5. The Birth of Optics
Although the Ancient Babylonians, Greeks and Romans, had already explored optics, it was not until the end of the Renaissance that lenses and curved mirrors were used to make complex instruments. This interactive workshop outlines the principles and typologies of lenses and mirrors demonstrating the extraordinary effects of their combination allowing 17th Century scientists to discover both the macro and micro cosmos. 
Humanities and Science Students (available in Italian or English)

6. Try and Try Again: The Experiences of the Accademia del Cimento
This workshop outlines the role the Accademia del Cimento played in building upon the scientific heritage of Galileo Galilei and Evangelista Torricelli. From the various areas of the research of the Accademia, the workshop focuses on: meteorology with instruments to measure pressure, humidity and temperature (barometers, thermometers and hygrometers) and astronomical observations that required the construction  of more powerful telescopes.
Humanities and Science Students (available in Italian or English)

 

In addition...

http://www.imss.fi.it
The website of the Museo di Storia della Scienza offers:
• a complete virtual visit to the museum
• in-depth information regarding several instruments (the astrolabe, Galieo’s compass and telescope)
• la Galileo//thek@ (educational material and research on Galileo Galilei’s instruments and discoveries)
• Up-to-date information on activities and initiatives

Bookshop
In addition to catalogues (books and DVD) about the Museo di Storia della Scienza, reproductions of instruments for educational purposes are also available.