Catavento Museum, Science museum in Sé District, São Paulo, Brazil.
The Catavento Museum occupies the Palácio das Indústrias, a building with a pink and cream facade, a central tower topped by a small dome and mast, and a ground-level portico of five arches. Its 12,000 square meters are divided into four sections: Universe, Life, Ingenuity and Society, with more than 250 installations.
The Palácio das Indústrias was built between 1911 and 1924 to designs by Domiziano Rossi of Ramos de Azevedo's office, with an imported metal frame and exposed brick. It served as the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo from 1947 to 1968 and as the city hall headquarters from 1992 until 2004, when it was abandoned. Law 14.130 of 2006 created the Catavento Foundation, and the science museum opened in March 2009.
The name Catavento means weathervane, and the museum's four sections are named Universo, Vida, Engenho and Sociedade. The Engenho section shows human ingenuity through interactive works, while Sociedade covers the environment, nanotechnology and robotics. Exhibits were produced with the USP Faculty of Medicine, the USP Science Station, the Oceanographic Institute and the Physics Institute.
The entrance sits in central São Paulo near Parque Dom Pedro II, easily reached by public transport. The museum opens Tuesday through Sunday and works well for families with children of all ages.
The building holds original meteorites and a working Foucault pendulum that shows Earth's rotation. Visitors can also walk through a real submarine installed in one of the exhibition halls.
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