Pirelli HangarBicocca
Pirelli HangarBicocca features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Milan. Give it roughly ~120 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type museum
- Suggested visit ~120 min
- Milan Milan guide
About Pirelli HangarBicocca
One of Europe's largest spaces for contemporary art, inside a cavernous former locomotive factory, anchored by Anselm Kiefer's permanent installation "The Seven Heavenly Palaces," seven concrete towers evoking ancient Babylonian ziggurats.
Pirelli HangarBicocca is one of the most important venues for contemporary art in Europe, a vast industrial space in the Bicocca district of northern Milan, occupying a former locomotive and tram factory built in the early 20th century, that has been transformed into a contemporary art centre with one of the most spectacular permanent installations in the world. The centre was founded by Pirelli (the tyre and cable company) in 2004 and is free to visit. It hosts major temporary exhibitions of international contemporary art alongside the permanent installation by German artist Anselm Kiefer: "The Seven Heavenly Palaces" (I Sette Palazzi Celesti), a group of seven massive concrete towers, each between 14 and 18 metres tall, placed in the vast nave of the former factory. The towers reference the Babylonian concept of the seven heavenly realms, the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, and the Mesopotamian ziggurat, architectural forms that connect the ancient and the contemporary in Kiefer's characteristic manner.
Did you know? Pirelli HangarBicocca is entirely free to visit, unusual for an institution of its scale and quality in any European city. This is because it is funded by Pirelli (the tyre and cable company) as a cultural responsibility rather than a commercial operation. Pirelli has been associated with Milan's cultural life since the 19th century and is one of the most important private patrons of the arts in Italy.
How long is a visit to Pirelli HangarBicocca?
Set aside roughly ~120 min for Pirelli HangarBicocca. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is Pirelli HangarBicocca worth your time?
Pirelli HangarBicocca is among the 32 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Milan, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Milan
Hear the story of Pirelli HangarBicocca
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