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ITALY

VENICE MUSEUMS

The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (National Library of St Mark's) is a library and Renaissance building in Venice, northern Italy; it is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in the country, holding one of the greatest classical texts collections in the world. The library is named after St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice. Today, besides about a million printed books, the Biblioteca Marciana contains about 13,000 manuscripts and 2883 incunabula and 24,055 works printed between 1500 and 1600. There are many illuminated manuscripts. Among the irreplaceable treasures are unique scores of operas by Francesco Cavalli and sonatas by Domenico Scarlatti.

For more information and enquiries please contact Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, San Marco 7, 30124 Venice, Tel: 041 24 07 211, E-mail: biblioteca@marciana.venezia.sbn.it

The Biblioteca Marciana building, view from Doge's Palace.
Photo by Maria Schnitzmeier.

The Accademia (Gallerie dell'Accademia) is a museum gallery of pre-19th century art in Venice, northern Italy. Situated on the south bank of the Grand Canal, within the sestiere of Dorsoduro, it gives its name to one of the three bridges across the canal, the Ponte dell'Accademia, and to the boat landing station for the vaporetto water bus. It was originally created as an art school. It was originally founded in 1750 by the Venetian Senate as Venice’s school of painting, sculpture, and architecture. The Gallerie dell’Accademia contains masterpieces of Venetian painting up to the 18th century, generally arranged chronologically though some thematic display.

Artists represented include: Gentile and Giovanni Bellini, Bernardo Bellotto, Pacino di Bonaguida, Canaletto, Carpaccio, Giulio Carpioni, Rosalba Carriera, Cima da Conegliano, Fetti, Pietro Gaspari, Michele Giambono, Luca Giordano, Francesco Guardi, Giorgione, Johann Liss, Charles Le Brun, Pietro Longhi, Lorenzo Lotto, Mantegna, Rocco Marconi, Michele Marieschi, Antonello da Messina, Piazzetta, Giovanni Battista Pittoni, Preti, Giambattista Tiepolo, Tintoretto, Titian, Veronese (Paolo Caliari), Vasari, Leonardo da Vinci (Drawing of Vitruvian Man), Alvise Vivarini, and Giuseppe Zais.

For more information and enquiries please contact Accademia Galleries, Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro n. 1050, Venice, Tel: (+39) 041 5200 345, E-mail: info@gallerieaccademia.org

The Museo Correr is the civic museum of Venice, located in the prominent Piazza San Marco, facing the basilica of the same name that it partially occupies, and is entered by way of the Napoleonic wing of the bureaucratic buildings, or Procuratie, framing three-quarters of the piazza. The museum holds art, documents, artifacts, and maps that chart the history and daily life of Venice across the centuries. The Napoleonic Wing has sumptuous Neoclassical decoration and houses a noteworthy collection of works by Antonio Canova. The museum also has shown one person exhibitions of contemporary artist such as Anselm Kieffer, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, Enzo Cucchi and Lawrence Carroll.

For more information and enquiries please contact Palazzo Mocenigo, Santa Croce 1992, 30135 Venice, Tel: +39 041721798, E-mail: info@fmcvenezia.it

The Museo Correr at the end of the Piazza San Marco
Photograph taken by Janmad

Ca' Rezzonico is a palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice. Ca' Rezzonico stands on the right bank of the canal, at the point where it is joined by the Rio di San Barnaba. Today it is a public museum dedicated to 18th century Venice. Thus today the palazzo is more sumptously furnished than ever before. Further paintings by Tiepolo have been added, including an entire frescoed ceiling, depicting 'The Allegory of Merit', which was rescued from Palazzo Barbarigo, now in the throne room. In addition to the throne room, a Chinese style salon from the palazzo of the Calbo-Crotta family and many more entire rooms have been salvaged from decaying Venetian palazzi.

Numerous paintings by such artists as Pietro Longhi, Francesco Guardi and Giandomenico Tiepolo can be found in the Palazzo. In addition to collections of antique furniture, there is also a fine collection of Venetian glass, showing that the skills of the 18th century masters at Murano were probably superior to those on the island today.

For more information and enquiries please contact Ca 'Rezzonico, Dorsoduro 3136, 30123 Venice, Tel: +39 041 241 0100, E-mail: info@fmcvenezia.it

The White marble façade of Ca' Rezzonico on the Grand Canal.
Photo by Adriano.