Museo Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia "Leonardo da Vinci"
It was founded in 1947. The museum has 28 sections, about 15 thousand items exhibited on an area of 40 thousand square metre. Monumental building in the Monastero degli Olivetani is the section which is dedicated to analysis and models of Leonardo's extraordinary machines as well as to astronomy, graphic arts, gold working, metallurgy, computer science, clock making, motorcycles, automobiles and musical instruments. The other section, Padiglione Ferroviario which is a railway station in Liberty style has the collections of about twenty or more locomotives, railway cars and trams. In the Edificio Aeronavale section there are exhibits of the relationship between man and the sea and airplanes on the second floor. The Giardini della Scienza section is the open-air section which is located on an area of three thousand square metre where the scientific trials and experiments with the interactive machines can be visited.
Museo Poldi Pezzoli
The museum is named after Gian Giacomo Poldi Pezzoli who was a Milanese nobleman lived between 1822 and 1879. His mother Rosa Trivulzio was among the aristocratic families of Neoclassical Milan. He was very much influenced by his mother's teachings of arts and became a collector of paintings, ceramics, fabrics, furniture, weapons, glass and jewels. He decorated the rooms in his house in different styles to harmonize with the collections he had. Among them the famous ones are the Salone Dorato, the Salone Dantesco, armory, staircase and the Sala Nera. In time his house turned into a museum and after his death donated to the City of Milan on condition that it would be a Foundation of Arts to be used for the benefit of the public and the rooms would not be changed. The museum was damaged during the World War II but restored and reopened in 1951. After then thousands of donated collections added within 50 years.
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
It was founded by Cardinal Federico Borromeo in 1618 as a complement to Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Two years later he founded the Accademia del Disegno which in 1775 was transferred to Brera with the order of the Austrian government and named as Accademia di Belle Arti. Within the collection of Pinacoteca, there are paintings, sculptures and prints donated by Borromeo. He also commissioned the building he used to live in, the Palazzo dell'Ambrogiano which was designed by Fabio Mangone in 1630. There are 172 works in the picture gallery, almost half of it about religious subjects such as Titian's Adoration of the Magi, the works of Bernardino Luini, Caravaggio's Fruit Basket and the cartoon of Raphael's School of Athens. The museum was extended between 1929 and 1931 by adding new collected works and after 1997 the museum has had 24 rooms to exhibit the works in chronological order with detailed information about their origin.
Who is Federico Borromeo?
Federico Borromeo is the founder of Pinacoteca Ambrosiana as a complement to Biblioteca Ambrosiana in 1618. He was the cousin of Saint Charles. He was born in 1564 to one of the most important and wealthiest families of the Lombardy. When he was 23 he was ordained cardinal by Pope Sixtus V. In 1595 he became archbishop of Milan. He was very fond of culture and art and dedicated himself to the diocese and its souls.
