A unique exhibition in the world, with the largest existing collection - about 3,500 specimens - of a tool that has been irreplaceable in building everything around us. For over three thousand years all civilizations have used it, declined according to their culture without being able to ignore it, from the pyramids to the Colosseum, from the Chinese wall to the cathedrals, from the aqueducts to the towers...

The exhibition traces the history of buildings and topography through the centuries, with evidence of Ancient Egypt, Roman, Ottoman, Ming, Seljuk, Afghan...

The LEAD WIRE has been used in many trades, each of which has declined in its own way: lead bricklayer, carpenter, topographer, tower, mine, mechanic, artist, inauguration, patented lead, mechanized lead, up to the precious nineteenth-century English and American specimens, with exquisite shapes. A vast bibliographical apparatus of books, publications and ancient catalogues is available in the appendix to the exhibition.

The event was sponsored by the Municipality of Pisa, the University of Pisa, the Order of Engineers, the Order of Architects, the College of Surveyors and the Friends of Museums.

The presence in Pisa of this exhibition - inaugurated on the 850th birthday of the Tower - is a tribute to one of the most famous monuments in the world: even today, as for centuries, the slope of the Tower is monitored with a plumb line.

The exhibition is open free of charge to citizens and visitors of our city by reservation.
tel: 335 397 297 mail: r.chetoni@gmail.com

“Ma a tirar su la cupola di Santa Maria del Fiore col solo aiuto di un filo a piombo e di una cazzuola, non tutti son buoni. Più che miracoli da Santi, son miracoli da uomini, voglio dir da toscani”
Curzio Malaparte in Maledetti Toscani