The story of this place
The soaring Mole Antonelliana, symbol of Turin, was begun in 1863 as a synagogue for the city's newly emancipated Jewish community, designed by Alessandro Antonelli. His ambitions ballooned—the tower grew ever taller and costlier until the Jewish community abandoned it, and the city took over, completing it in 1889 at 167.5 metres, then the tallest brick building in Europe. A storm toppled its top spire in 1904, and it has been rebuilt more than once. Since 2000 it has housed the National Cinema Museum, one of the world's most spectacular, its exhibits spiralling up beneath the vast dome while a glass elevator shoots visitors to a panoramic viewing deck facing the Alps. It appears on the Italian two-cent euro coin.