The Specola Museum is part of the University of Bologna's Museum Network (SMA), a circuit that includes fifteen museums dedicated to various disciplines. SMA promotes heritage protection, education, enhancement and enjoyment of a rich museum heritage that constitutes a great encyclopaedia at the disposal of the university community and the public.
The Museum is located inside the Specola Tower, built between 1712 and 1726, and houses the University's astronomical collection. It has four floors and ends with a panoramic terrace at the top.
The Museum's collections include telescopes, quadrants, semicircles, maps, globes, astrolabes and armillary spheres, as well as the first tessellated telescope in history designed by Guido Horn d'Arturo.
On the sixth floor is a valuable collection of celestial and terrestrial globes dating from the 16th to the 18th centuries, created by artists such as Willem Blaeu and sons, the Gerard brothers, Leonard Valk and John Senex. These globes document the evolution of geographical discoveries and science over time.
On the seventh floor, in the top tower, is a collection of telescopes dating from the 17th to the 19th century. Among the most important pieces are a Gregorian telescope by Peter Dollond, a refracting telescope by George Adams, and a repeater circle by Reichenbach.