Museo del Precinema

The Museum PRECINEMA of Padua is unique in the museum scene not only Italians, almost a Wunderkammer (Wonderland museum); established in 1998 in collaboration between the City of Padua and Minici Zotti Collection, thanks to an interesting project between public and private. To identify and understand the mechanisms and pathways that led to the emergence and dissemination, on a world basis, a new "human species", the visionary man, starting from the invention of the Lumiere Brothers is necessary to work backwards over a period of several centuries, trying to keep the center of the observation focus is the story of the vision machines - already partly known and explored - as that, more vast and uncertain boundaries, the popular view and forms of optical performance that, during the centuries, led to the invention of cinema. The fifteenth Angels Palace, owned by the City of Padua, located in Prato della Valle in the historical center of the city, is the most appropriate place to protect and exhibit such instruments and projection windows, original hand paintings of the '700 and' 800 . You can also admire: the "Mondo nuovo" with optical views, a collection of optical illusions that throughout the nineteenth century and especially in the Victorian age, in a multifaceted witness to the need to break the deadlock of the still image and one-dimensional . Next to simple devices to playful as taumatropi, or anamorphosis appear more ingenious tools like the phenachistoscope, praxinoscope and the zoetrope. A section is dedicated to PHOTOGRAPHY where you can view the images included in Megaletoscopio "privileged" by Carlo Ponti in 1864; to continue with the STEREOSCOPY where are stereoscopes vintage, portable or column equipped with photographic images that appear three-dimensional. "Flagship" of this museum are the MAGIC LANTERN who have documented, with their projections, the projected image fascinating journey, from the eighteenth century to the birth of cinema. Among the most valuable pieces, in addition to the projection lanterns, single, the Fantasmagoria lanterns, double lantern W. Tyler, the J. triple lantern H. Steward, mahogany with brass objectives dated around 1880 ca .; scientific lantern P. Harris & Co, the lantern "The Pettibone" American production, other antique paired lanterns and finally the lantern - cinema Walter Gibbons. A bulletin board is reserved for TOY lanterns painted tin with embossed decorations Lapierre, Plank and Müller, in addition to the colorful lanterns salon of French production. Next to the projection equipment, the Collection Minici Zotti, it gathers thousands of glasses dating from the middle of the eighteenth and the twentieth century. They are mostly hand-painted or glass engraving shows or hand-colored photographs, as well as interesting "moving" glasses with which to obtain fun animations; these include chromatropes, the famous Coreutoscopio band and fades with the day-night effect. Remember, finally, the ancient MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, a JAVANESI THEATRE OF SHADOWS late nineteenth century and the reconstruction of the Darkroom.