Goppion display cases in Florence’s new Museo Galileo

09 Jun 2010

On June 10th the Museo Galileo, Institute and Science Museum, reopen to the public. The objects exhibited are displayed in display cases made by the Goppion Laboratorio Museotecnico in Milan

Florence, Italy - June 10th, 2010. The special “custom-built” aspect of the project for the Museo Galileo has been taken to the extreme on this occasion thanks to the flexible organisation of the Goppion Laboratorio, known throughout the world for having built the Mona Lisa glass protection and thus able to meet the demands of a new international museum. The graduated use of light, colour and materials – created by Guicciardini & Magni Architetti - highlight the objects displayed and donate to the exhibit system a degree of coherence which is perceived right down to the display case itself – a climate-controlled microcosm – which preserves as well as presents the objects being displayed in the best way possible.

The LED lighting systems are innovative with spot-lights in the upper part of the display case that operate alongside Wall-Washer bars on the back and beneath the shelves. This brings out the chromes and the textures and enable the viewer to notice even the smallest features of the treasures kept within the museum: among which the astrolabes and armillary spheres from the Medici collections and the large Santucci Sphere on the first floor of Palazzo Castellani.

Moreover, there is the special display case which is back-lit and contains the largest part of the collection of the Accademia del Cimento. The precious contents can be viewed in their entirety thanks to a sole glass front which is almost six metres long and weighs 450 kilos. It opens upwards on account of two powerful articulated four-sided pivots. On the second floor of the museum, the chemistry cabinet and the anatomical waxes from the Lorraine Collections are kept within two Goppion free-standing display cases: meeting the challenge presented by the duration of time, a contrast to the older brass and wooden display cases from the 18th century that can be found in the very same room.

Particular products:
- Special large upward opening display cases, with shutters measuring up to 5.90 x 2.50 metres and weighing up to 600 kg, upward opening thanks to two articulated four-sided pivots with 2,500 Newton shock absorbers.
- Free-standing display cases with a trolley in order to be able to fully extract the exhibit.
- Back-lit glass display case with technical compartment.

Figures: the 18 rooms in the museum, distributed on three levels, contain 60 display cases in which more than 1,000 objects are exhibited. The crystal itself amounts to a total of 580 square metres and has been used for the cabinets. It was brought into Palazzo Castellani through one window on the first floor of the building along with 46,000 kilos of carpentry materials. 2,272 ore have been needed for the construction of the designs and for the 3D reconstructions.

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