Four years after the event that changed Torino and Piemonte and a few days before the opening ceremony of the 2010 Vancouver XXI Winter Olympic Games, Regione Piemonte, Provincia and Città di Torino, with the collaboration of TOP, Torino Olympic Park, inaugurate the first Italian Olympic Museum.
A permanent memento of the days in 2006, in which the mountains of Valsusa and Val Chisone became stars on the world stage and the city under La Mole became the capital again, welcoming the most festive, cosmopolitan and pleasant invasion in its history.
Created with a “travelling” flavour which, after an initial stopover in the main city of the Winter Games, will be able to travel both throughout the Piedmontese region and to other Olympic cities in Italy and throughout the world. The Museo Olimpico will be hosted for its debut by the Museo Regionale di Scienze Naturali di Torino. A location chosen not only for its central location but also for its efficient management and well-established network of visitors, which also includes the regional and extra-regional school circuit. The Olympic memory will have a home here for two years, before embarking on its journey.
A journey through the gamut of emotions, which also had to be the underlying theme of the Museo: using once again the happy and still current slogan of 2006, ‘Passion lives here’, the visitor’s itinerary is developed around the concept of “passion”.
A passion that guides the visitor to a slalom, as on a ski slope, and that ignites:
• the torch: history of the winter Olympics, journey of the torch, torch-bearers, Olympic flag;
• the city and mountain: from the nomination to the facilities of Torino and the mountain locations, Medals Plaza, Sponsor Village and ‘look of the city’;
• the spotlights: media, television, newspapers and journalists;
• the emotions: ceremonies, athletes, volunteers, citizens and tourists;
• the competitive spirit: disciplines and 15 days of competitions, with images, videos, memorabilia and equipment;
• the enthusiasm: 2006 Torino Paralympics with disciplines, athletes, ceremonies, competitions and medals;
• the future: the Olympic legacy and the big sporting events post 2006, from the World University Games in Torino in 2007 to World Figure Skating Championships, planned for Palavela, from 22 – 28 March 2010.
Theme sections created as chapters in a large virtual book, developed within giant three-dimensional pages, consisting of 3.5 metre high mobile totems mounted on wheels.
Each page/totem contains videos, photos, texts and memorabilia: Zoeggler’s sledge and suit, the speed skating suit worn by Fabris, Hernoff’s short track skates, together with Marta Capurso’s suit, helmet and skates and the skates and Cavalli designer outfit worn by Carolina Kostner in figure skating.
A prominent space is reserved for the Olympic torch, designed by Pininfarina.
On a platform, welcoming the visitors just a few steps from the entrance to the museum, prototypes telling the story of its creation are kept in a case: from the first model made of expanded foam, to the technological research, followed by the definitive shape moulded into a slab and the official version that we saw shine during the journey that brought it to Torino (not everyone knows that the Torino 2006 torch conquered a technical record in the history of the Olympics, being extinguished, unscheduled, only five times during its entire journey).
The Museo Olimpico also represents a turning point in the museum world, boasting technologies of excellence, never before used in this context in Italy:
• a hologram presents the calendar of the principal sporting events scheduled for Piemonte, through two exceptional testimonials of Stefania Belmondo and Carolina Kostner;
• an autostereoscopic monitor (3D effect without glasses) welcomes the visitor as a visual map at the entrance to the museum.
In addition to a reference area, with online PCs and a small library with all of the publications on the Torino Olympics, there are also interactive areas with Play Station Torino 2006 and Play Station 3 Vancouver 2010, with which visitors can test themselves virtually in the practice of Olympic sports.
The Museo is also equipped with a small cinema with double projection on both walls dedicated to documentaries on the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics, Paralympics, World University Games and major sporting events. During the Vancouver Games the cinema will be linked via satellite, allowing visitors to watch a live broadcast of the Olympic games.
In the area dedicated to the Paralympics it is possible to see close up the sports equipment used by the paralympic athletes (from the mono-ski to the sledge); in the area dedicated to the World University Games, in addition to a bust in homage to their founder, Primo Nebiolo, the first photo of the event and the torches of the Torino editions of 1959, 1970 and 2007 are to be found.
The complete exhibition journey opens with a space dedicated to the Olympic truce and closes symbolically with the large medal collection, recaptured in the Museo’s logo, dominated by the three symbols of victory: gold, silver and bronze.
Finally, life and soul of the Torino Games, the “Noi 2006” volunteers could not be omitted: on one of the totems are displayed the names of all twenty thousand Olympic angels and the uniform, still proudly worn today by many of them. As a mark of the gratitude that will be forever shown towards these extraordinary silent protagonists, entry to the Museo Olimpico is free for volunteers: it will be sufficient to show an identity card or service badge used at the ticket office
“”Passion could not but be the lifeblood of this museum – states Mercedes Bresso, president of Regione Piemonte – From that of the volunteers to the athletes, and then the public, citizens, spotlights, media and the festivities. A place of memory but also of the future, which not just by chance we wanted to make “travelling” in nature, in order to bring from Torino throughout Piemonte, and soon we hope also throughout Italy and the world, the contagious passion that the 2006 Olympics and Paralympics have left as a legacy to our region”.
“An exhibition area and the objects contained in it can relate facts, stories and personalities, describe events, but even transmit emotions – comments the mayor of Torino, Sergio Chiamparino – For those who have personally experienced the Torino Winter Olympics and Paralympics, visiting this museum will be a little like leafing through an album of dearest memories and returning through memory to those days of sport and festivities during which, among the people who crowded the sports facilities, the streets of the centre and the Medals Plaza, enthusiasm was a very widespread and contagious phenomenon ".
"Four years ago, during these days, a city, province, region and an entire Country prepared themselves to experience a thrilling Olympic adventure, that brought us to the forefront of the world for two weeks – recalls Antonio Saitta, president of Provincia di Torino – We have remained at this forefront, thanks to our ability to attract new and great events, by being able to rely on a range of sports facilities and aggregation areas with few equals in the world. The Museo Olimpico reminds us of those fabulous days and of the legacy it has left us, from a tangible point of view but also an intangible one. Thanks to the Olympic Games, we have learned to work as a system with everyone working together, public and private bodies and associations, in order to guarantee a better future for our region”.
Museo Olimpico
Location: Museo di Scienze Naturali, via Giolitti, 36 - Torino
Opening hours: every day from 10 until19, closed Tuesday.
Ticket price included in entry to the Museo di Scienze Naturali:
full price 5 euro, reduced 2.50. Free of charge for ‘Noi 2006’ volunteers, with identity card.
Credits
Promoters: Regione Piemonte, Provincia and Città di Torino, with the collaboration of TOP
Design and fitting-out department: Regione Piemonte (arch. Luciana Rossetti)
Images and content: Orange021
Video technical support: HANNspree
Sport film clip editing: HUB
Autostereoscopic video direction: Studio JUMA Communication
Hologram video production: Show Lab
Hologram video direction: Giulio Graglia
Photographic slide show: Gughi Fassino
Lighting direction: Domenico Valliera
With thanks to: Federazioni Italiane Sport Invernali and Sport Ghiaccio, Comitato Paralimpico, CUS, Pininfarina, Bolaffi, Lorenzo Giorgetti and Roberto Milanesi for making available some of the exhibits in the museum.
Sponsors
Asics, Coca Cola, Engineering, Eurosport, Ferrovie dello Stato, Fiat, Intesa San Paolo, Omega, Kyocera, Panasonic, Skylogic-Eutelsat, Telecom Italia.
For info: Josè Urso 335/7940036 Ufficio Stampa Assessorato Turismo e Sport Regione Piemonte
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