The Museum of the 20th Century M9 belongs to a new generation of museums. For the very first time, a museum narrates the compelling history of the 20th century. A century that saw great and small changes: from evolutions in everyday life to momentous social, economic, environmental and cultural changes. State-of-the-art technologies and immersive displays help visitors learn about the past, understand the present and imagine the future.
One hundred years are just a drop in the ocean compared to the history of mankind: yet the lives of Italians changed more in the 20th century than they did in any other century before it. It was a time of totalitarianism, World Wars and mass genocide but also of liberalism and democracy, collective movements, the welfare state, general well-being and the acknowledgement of freedom and civil rights.
M9 explores the highs and lows of the century with its many stories, contradictions and questions. The museum’s multimedia content, selected by more than forty Italian experts in their field, reveals a wealth of material that the general public rarely gets to see. With material from nearly 150 Italian and international archives and libraries, M9 showcases its 20th-century cultural heritage: photographs, newspapers, magazines, posters and advertising material, radio recordings, films and documentaries, amateur footage and television programmes. The displays in the museum include more than 6,000 photos, 820 videos, 500 printed material, 400 audio files and 10 hours of digital films.
