La Specola, Padua on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, and converted in 1767 into an astronomical observatory (specula) in
Description in the entry of the University of Padua
La Specola museum has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and a collection of period astronomical instruments.
La Specola is a 14th-century tower, formerly part of a medieval castle, and converted in 1767 into an astronomical observatory (specula) in Padua
Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of 20 ...
, region of Veneto, Italy.
History
The 13th-century ruler of Padua,Ezzelino III da Romano
Ezzelino III da Romano (25 April 1194, Tombolo, Veneto, Tombolo7 October 1259) was an Italian feudal lord, a member of the Ezzelini family, in the March of Treviso (in modern Veneto). He was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II, Holy Roman ...
, had built a castle at the site; this tower had served as a dungeon. In the 14th-century during a reconstruction by Francesco I da Carrara, this tower was raised further.
After its conversion to an astronomical observatory a decade before, in 1777 the tower housed a lower observatory, 16 metres above ground level, and an upper observatory at a height of 35 metres. The entrance has an inscription by Abbé Toaldo added in 1771, reflecting on the changed uses of the site:1242 / This tower, which once led to infernal shadows/ now, under the auspices of the Venetians, opens the way to the stars / 1767The lower observatory was named the Sala Meridiana; noon was measured on the meridian line sunk in the floor. The upper observatory has walls of eight metres, and its large windows are almost six metres high. The observatory remained in use until the 1930s, when the
University of Padua
The University of Padua (, UNIPD) is an Italian public research university in Padua, Italy. It was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from the University of Bologna, who previously settled in Vicenza; thus, it is the second-oldest ...
decided to procure a modern facility, represented by the Asiago Astrophysical Observatory on a plateau north of Padova, commissioned in 1942.La Specola museum has frescoes depicting famous astronomers and a collection of period astronomical instruments.
See also
*List of astronomical observatories
This is a partial list of astronomical observatories ordered by name, along with initial dates of operation (where an accurate date is available) and location. The list also includes a final year of operation for many observatories that are no lon ...
References
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Padua University of Padua Specola Padua