A new science museum, designed by celebrated Italian architect Renzo Piano has opened in Trento, in the Dolomite Mountains. With its jagged edges, MUSE mimics the surrounding mountainous landscape. Inside is a museum that digs deep into the history of the local area.
According to a local travel site, “This is a sensory journey through science and nature, with a full bag of multimedia tricks. Touch a glacier with your own hands. Walk through a tropical greenhouse and listen to the sounds of the rainforest. Mingle with dinosaurs in an area that still displays fossiled dinosaur footprints. The exhibition traces life in the Dolomites from the days of the dinosaurs, featuring fossils, rock paintings, and prehistoric arms found in situ, as well as presenting Neanderthal Man.
“Stilt dwellings on Lake Ledro date from around 2000 BC, attesting to the presence of local Neolithic and Bronze Age settlements. The evolutionary story is brought home with the largest exhibition of dinosaurs in the Alps. Fossilised footprints from these creatures have long been an attraction on a walking trail south of Rovereto. Now, there are dinosaur footprints here that become part of the full dinosaur story, with authentic finds counterpointed by engrossing multimedia displays.”
The new structure has also been recognized for its energy efficiency, incorporating solar panels and geothermal energy, and using two-thirds less energy than normal.