Welcome  to  the  MUSEUM of  SCIENTIFIC  INSTRUMENTS  at
Liceo  “ G.  Garibaldi ” -  Palermo

How it was born

 The museum is located in a small area destined to host it as a result of the restructuring of the school premises completed in the school year 2003/04.
The museum was set up by the Centro Regionale Progettazione e Restauro ,the regional Authority for Planning and Restoring.
The scientific instruments, which had been kept into boxes abandoned in the school basement for a long time, were catalogued and restored to their previous conditions by a team of teachers and experts put together in 1996; the working group was run by Prof.  Giorgia Foderà Serio, who had been a student of thisLiceo and is the person in charge of the Museum of  la Specola at Palermo Observatory.
The team members were some teachers from the Liceo, Ms Donata Rindone, as supervisor of the team, Ms Maria Antonietta De Blasi, Ms Giovanna Federico, Ms Rosa Micciancio, Ms Anna Maria Pelligra and Mr Agostino Bruno, the person in charge of the school Laboratory of Science maintenance. They started in the year 2000 and the task took a long time to be completed.
The cataloguing of the instruments posed many problems, in particular the identification of them since they had been disassembled and some of them were found in a terrible state which prevented their identification; the only source of information was an inventory book where they had been recorded dating back to 1920s.

Educational Projects concerning the Museum

All the projects concerning the Museum have involved the participation of the students of last two years.
The main objective of the projects is the acquisition of a competence in the making and keeping files on the instruments and in promoting the fruition of the exhibits.
The Museum represents a point of reference for the scientific and cultural formation of both the students and the people.

. An example of how to rediscover the inheritance of the school: the records of the   History of science

The museum consists of three rooms with twelve bookcases, a reading-desk and a blackboard dating back to the early 20th century together with four modern glass cupboards and three personal computers.
In the five bookcases of the main hall you can see the instruments of the Mechanic, Thermodynamic and Electromagnetism sections; the items  concerning Chemistry,  Microscopy, Stereoscopy  together with a rotation apparatus are set in the glass cupboards. The geography section is displayed  on the wooden platform.
The Optic section is along the  corridor  and in the third room you can find the library, the computers and some apparatus not yet  on show.

About our school: past and present

The liceo ginnasio “G.Garibaldi”  was founded in 1888 during Crispi’s ministry. Very popular from the beginning, it soon had complete five year courses of studies. The school was opened by the Ministry of Education Paolo Boselli on behalf of the Prime Minister Francesco Crispi on January 12 1889, on the occasion of the glorious Sicilian revolution of 1848. The memorial tablet of the event is still in the building where the liceo had its first seat, in Salita Benfratelli. This building nowadays houses the scientific liceo “B.Croce”.
The liceo Garibaldi had to change its seat several times , due to the increasing number of students and because of the war events. First it moved from the original  old building in Salita Benfratelli to via G. Di Giovanni, then, during the first world war, it was split in separate buildings for the requisition of its seat for military purposes. In 1921 the liceo could come back to via G. Di Giovanni where it remained for 22 years. In 1943 during the second world war the building was destroyed by bombing and , once again, the liceo was housed in several schools of  Palermo.
After the war, from school year 1944-45 the “Florio” palace in via Libertà housed the school. In 1951 a new building in C. Rotolo was completed and finally became the seat where the liceo is still today. The school is now insufficient for the increased school population and for many years some of the fifty classes have had their lessons in a building somewhere near.

WHY A MUSEUM?

-to store, value and show objects
-to preserve documents from being harmed or damaged
-not to forget our past

WHY A SCIENCE MUSEUM?

-for the fundamental role science has had in the development of society
-because a scientific education is one of the priorities of society

WHY A “SMALL” SCIENCE MUSEUM?

-because it is in the territory    
-because it can be visited and enjoyed any time
-because of its links with the school, its history, the history of the community and of the country

INFORMATION

Opening times:  Mon, Tue,  Fri. from 9a.m.  to 11a.m.
                           Thu. from 4 p.m.  to 6 p.m.
Guided tours on booking. Students must be accompanied by their teachers. Max. 25 students

ADDRESS
Liceo Classico Statale “G. Garibaldi”
Via C. Rotolo, 2  Palermo
info@museoscientifico.com
www.museoscientifico.com