The Museum of Illusions lands in Rome for an entertaining and multisensory experience
A very special interactive museum has landed in the city. In the past few days, the Museo delle Illusioni (Museum of Illusions), the 38th venue in the world dedicated to the celebration of special visual and sensory effects that deceive our eyes and minds while amusing us, has opened in Via Merulana, 17.
There are 70 attractions, all located on one floor, related to the world of science, psychology and physics. The interactive tour lasts an hour, and will allow the visitor to discover how our eyes can be tricked to the point of seeing things that in a rational line of reasoning seem impossible.
Here are some examples to give you an idea.
STANZA DI AMES (AMES’S ROOM)
On one side a giant, on the other a tiny person: this is the effect visitors will experience when walking and standing at opposite corners of this room.
STANZA RUOTATA (ROLLING ROOM)
The laws of gravity literally lose weight… Here you can climb the walls and float through the air. You have to try it to believe!
VORTEX TUNNEL
Ready to lose your balance? The vortex tunnel will make it really tricky to stay upright as you walk down a catwalk through a rotating cylinder; the jaw-dropping effect is that the catwalk is stable and fixed, but gives the real sensation of being in constant, precarious motion.
IL TAVOLO DEI CLONI (THE CLONES’ TABLE)
Do you want to sit at a table with five versions of yourself? What looks like a round table is nothing more than the effect of a reflection that generates the illusion of being surrounded by five clones.
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LA TESTA SUL PIATTO (HEAD ON THE PLATE)
A somewhat gruesome, but ultimately amusing illusion: the person’s body disappears and only the head remains visible, emerging from a platter… the illusion is served!
LA STANZA RGB (THE RGB ROOM)
This room shows how the interaction between light and colour can have surprising effects. Three lights are mounted on the ceiling: a red, a green and a blue one, which illuminate, at intervals, the graphics on the walls in cyan, magenta and yellow. Depending on the beam of light used, different images can be seen appearing and disappearing.
IL VASO DI RUBIN (RUBIN’S VASE)
A famous optical illusion created in 1915 by Danish psychologist Edgar Rubin, it apparently shows a simple silhouette of a vase, but if you look closely, you will see faces hidden inside it.
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LA STANZA DELLA SIMMETRIA (THE SYMMETRY ROOM)
At the centre of the symmetry room, is a wall of mirrors that extends only as far as a particular point in the room, and near this end visitors stop to see a symmetrical reflection of themselves, also creating the illusion of floating in air.
LA STANZA DELL’INFINITO (THE INFINITY ROOM)
Thanks to a special trick with full-height mirrors, this room creates a real sense of bewilderment in the observer, who feels lost in infinity. One can really lose one’s sense of direction here!
And there’s more … holograms, optical and photographic illusions; the museum offers a real immersive and alienating experience, combining fun with knowledge of the particular interactions between sight and mind.
Via Merulana, 17
OPENING TIMES:
Mon-Thus: 10am-8.30pm (last accesso 7.30pm)
Fri-Sun: 10am-9pm (last access 8pm)
On weekends and holidays, you must book your tickets online!
TICKETS:
Adults: 18 € | Children (6-15 anni): 12 € | (0-5): Free | Students and Over-60s: 15 €
