Catavento Museum

Museu Catavento puts hands-on science inside the Palácio das Indústrias, an ornate early twentieth-century palace in São Paulo's Parque Dom Pedro II. The building was originally put up to host industrial exhibitions and later served as the seat of the state legislature and then as São Paulo's city hall, before the museum opened there in 2009.

The exhibits are interactive, and most invite visitors to touch, operate or test something rather than simply look. They are grouped into four broad areas: Universe, covering astronomy and the Earth; Life, on biology and the natural world; Ingenuity, on physics, chemistry and technology; and Society, on human history and social questions.

With around half a million visitors a year, Catavento is one of the city's most popular museums. It is aimed squarely at children, families and school groups, and it is busy and lively rather than contemplative. Its long, decorated corridors and courtyards are worth noticing in their own right.