NATIONAL MUSEUM OF
VENICE PALACE
(
Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Venezia
)
The building was once the seat of the embassy
of the Republic of Venice (1564-1797),
then of France (from 1797) and later
Austria (from 1814).
The fifteenth-century Palazzo Venezia, a
splendid example of a Roman noble palace
with Tuscan influences attributed to
the work of Leon Battista Alberti.
It has been the home of the National Museum
since 1916 (the year when it was returned to the
Italian State ).
The museum is named after the
building.Rich and varied collections of
medieval art and from the early renaissance
from various private collections have merged in
the museum.
Subsequent to an initial partial opening in
1921, which was supervised by Federico Hermanin,
and until the end of the Second World War,
the Museum was forced to coexist with the
occupation of the Fascist government which used
the Appartamento Barbo (currently used as
an exhibition area) as state rooms and those of
the Appartamento Cybo as the private
residence of the Duce.
Even though the museum benefited from an
arrangement adapted for its wealthy collections
since 1936, it was closed to the public during
its occupation for security reasons, therefore
it did not attain the fame that it deserved.
This problem still affects it today, and it has
tried to find a solution with the museum
reorganization that started at the beginning of
the '90S and is not yet complete.
The current tour features three large sections
which correspond to the architectural
articulation of the palace.
The Appartamento Cybo houses items from
the medieval period and a rich collection
of paintings from XIII to XVIII century which is
divided by geographic areas.
Particular attention is given to the paintings
from the regions in central-northern Italy from
the Sterbini collection; masterpieces
by Pisanello, Gozzoli,
Giorgione, Borgianni, Solimena
and Maratta thus alternate with
monumental examples of thirteenth-century
painted crosses, valuable manufactured articles
of medieval jewellery (for example the
Cross in rock crystal from the othonian era),
diptychs and Byzantine ivory boxes,
architectural-sculptural elements tied to
the local tradition of Roman marble workers
(like the marble transenna by Giovanni di
Stejano of 1372 from the Ara Coeli), large
fifteenth-century wooden chests and valuable
examples of Latium wood sculpture from
the thirteenth century such as the polychrome
Vergine col Bambino (known as di Acute).
The halls of the adjacent Palazzetto
Venezia house very wealthy collections of
small renaissance bronzes from the collection of
Roman antique dealer Alfredo Barsanti and
ambassador Giacinto Auriti (with works by
Riccio, Giambologna and Francesco Mochi) and
also the very interesting collection of terra
cotta models most of which once belonged to
opera singer Evan Gorgo from the Cavaceppi
collection, some experiments by Bernini (the
Moro, study for the
fountain in Piazza Navona
and l'Angelo col titolo for
Ponte Sant'Angelo) and by Algardi, both
masters who crucial innovations to the field of
teaching through the number of followers widely
represented in the museum, are he most
interesting pieces which the collection boasts.
The so-called Passagio dei Cardinali acts
as a link between the two sections old patrol
trench was covered in the eighteenth
century,here Room is given to the sections
dedicated to ceramics and chinaware datable
between VIII and XIX century.
There are several particular collections in
the museum, for example; a consistent
nucleus of Roman and Latium artefacts
from the early Middle Ages (small jugs,
special plates used for bread) and the complete
collection of domestic ceramic typologies in use
in different Italian geographic areas until the
early fifteenth century tell the story of the
origins of works which achieved great success
from the XVI until the XVIII century (compare
the manufactured articles of Deruta,
Faenza, Montelupo, Savona,
Genova and Albissola, and the Dutch
work of wide panorama of chinaware from European
factories from the early years of XX century is
offered by pieces from the factory of Meissen
(specialized in small polychrome sculptures and
19S which were also decorative), from the
factory of Vienna, Sèvres, Paris and also from
the Imperial Factory of St. Petersburg
and Moscow Factory of Popoff for
foreign countries (with a small of oriental
chinaware) while Italian production is
represented the Factories of Capodimonte, Buen
Retiro, the Real Factory of Naples and
the Tuscan factory of Doccia.
The museum, which has but precious
collection of tapestries produced in Brussels,
the beautiful ceiling fresco painted by Giorgio
Vasari in 1553 for the loggia of the Palazzo
owned at the time by the powerful banker Bindo
Altoviti.
It was saved from destruction in 1888 when work
was beeing done on the embankments of the Tiber
river, it is now located and named after the
Appartamento Cybo.
Instead, the collection of Odescalchi arms which
gathers over 1200 pieces and which recounts the
history of the evolution of instruments used for
military attacks from the IX century to the XIX
century, is still undergoing preparation.
Addresses
Via
del Plebiscito, 118
Hours Every day from 8.30 am (the ticket office
ne hour before the schedule closing time)
Vlonday, Dec. 25, Jan. 1
ne e
Fax 06699941
4,00;
concessions € 2,00; free admission to those aged 3
and over 65
For
Tours information
– private guided tours – special entrances, no waiting in
line - VIP services
www.tourinrome.com
www.vaticanmuseuminformation.com
www.vaticanmuseumticket.com
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