Museo Correr, Museo Archeologico and the Sale Monumentali Biblioteca Marciana

Yesterday it was impossible to stay outside for long with the combination of acqua alta and rain so we went to the Museo Correr.  We hadn't been there since 1979 and we were interested to see what we remembered. The palazzi of Venice were my first introduction to the grandness of European life and the wealth of art and architecture in comparison to my upbringing in suburban Australia.

This time, to us the Royal Palace from the Austrian occupation of Venice, while grand, seemed out of synch with the real Venice.  We wandered through, looked at the rooms but there was little of Venice in them for us apart from the grand chandeliers and  sculptures by Canova.

 After the Royal rooms there is a great collection of pieces related to Venetian history.  The Wikipedia page for the Correr Museum has a good basic description.


This walnut library was moved from  Palazzo Pisani in San Vidal and reconstructed in the museum.  There is a fabulous collection of manuscripts and books  - those on display are in beautiful condition.

We were glad to have seen the  Museo Storico Navale di Venezia as many exhibits referred directly to items at the Museo Correr.   We spent hours wandering through the many rooms on the first floor and in the paintings gallery upstairs.

The original is at Palazzo Ducale ( used to secretly post notes dobbing people in for some misdemeanor or other) 

Venice lion

 Entry to the Museo Archeologico and the Sale Monumentali Biblioteca Marciana were included in the ticket price and were worth visiting.
There are many Roman statues and other sculptures -most of which seem to have been in the private collections of various Doges over time. Many are in excellent condition.

 Sale Monumentali Biblioteca Marciana

 These photo don't do this room justice.  We only had a small waterproof camera with us because of the heavy rain and didn't expect to be able to take photos.
It is a magnificent room in excellent condition and vibrant rich colours.  There are old globes of the world down the centre of the room and paintings by well know Venetian artists including Tintoretto.

This is a map of the world painted in the renaissance period -sorry i can't remember the friar's name.

Museo Storico Navale di Venezia

Il Museo Storico Navale di Venezia is a very interesting place to visit especially if you are interested in naval battles etc.  We were not so interested in the extensive more recent part of the collection but spent a long time looking at the older pieces and excellent models.

There are some really well-crafted models of old vessels from Roman times to times when the Venetian navies had a powerful influence.  There is a beautiful model of the last Bucintoro -the  ceremonial boat used by the Doges. The last Bucintoro was burnt by the French in the late 1700s - Napoleon wrecking another bit of Venice. 

We have been meaning to visit this museum for years and are glad that we finally did. We were there for a long while but you could spend many hours if you are interested in WW1 and WW2 naval battles and artifacts. It is absolutely worth a visit.

A highly decorated old Venetian cannon. The photos below show some of the detail

 The Venice lion was on everything

There were many old maps and models.  

This was of the city and fortress of Corfu and was dated 1692

Model of the Bucintoro

 If you're really interested, this is the info about the Bucintoro from the museum

There are many fragments and whole carved and gilded figureheads

Decorations on restored panels from the side of a Galley