Tempio Voltiano
Presented here is a color-enhanced infrared photograph featuring the "Temple" dedicated to Alessandro Volta, the Tempio Voltiano, which was inaugurated on July 15, 1928. It was built to mark the first centenary of Alessandro Volta's death (1745-1827). Francesco Somaini (1855-1939), owner of a cotton mill in Como and a Member of Parliament, conceived the idea of building a place devoted to the memory of the great physicist and to preserve his scientific tools and documents. He had painfully witnessed the devastating fire that destroyed the pavilions of the Great Exhibition, which was organized in Como for the first centenary of the invention of the electric battery in the summer of 1799. Somaini provided all the necessary financial resources. The architect Federico Frigerio (1873-1959) was put in charge of the project. He believed that “to honour a man who was among the brightest glories of the Napoleonic Era,” the most appropriate style would be the Neoclassical style.
The building was featured on the 10,000 Lira bill.
Tempio Voltiano
Presented here is a color-enhanced infrared photograph featuring the "Temple" dedicated to Alessandro Volta, the Tempio Voltiano, which was inaugurated on July 15, 1928. It was built to mark the first centenary of Alessandro Volta's death (1745-1827). Francesco Somaini (1855-1939), owner of a cotton mill in Como and a Member of Parliament, conceived the idea of building a place devoted to the memory of the great physicist and to preserve his scientific tools and documents. He had painfully witnessed the devastating fire that destroyed the pavilions of the Great Exhibition, which was organized in Como for the first centenary of the invention of the electric battery in the summer of 1799. Somaini provided all the necessary financial resources. The architect Federico Frigerio (1873-1959) was put in charge of the project. He believed that “to honour a man who was among the brightest glories of the Napoleonic Era,” the most appropriate style would be the Neoclassical style.
The building was featured on the 10,000 Lira bill.