The Archaeological Museum

The Archaeological Museum is located in St. Mark’s Square, near the New Procuratie. This museum was created  in the sixteenth through the donations of some wealthy Venetian families. In 1523 the Republic of Venice received an inheritance a group of ancient sculptures from the private collection of Cardinal Domenico Grimani. Subsequently, in 1587, Giovanni Grimani, nephew of Cardinal, also donated his collection of sculptures, coming from Roman territory, which had been there until they were housed in the family mansion in Santa Maria Formosa. Shortly after the College of senators, according to Giovanni Grimaldi, he decided that all the marbles were transferred in the Antechamber of the Biblioteca Marciana.

After John’s death, Federico Contarini, rich Venetian collector, was commissioned by the Senate to finish the installation of the collection. Contarini, in agreement with some of the grandchildren of the city Patriarch and with the Council of Ten, left at Palazzo Grimani some of the sculptures, while the others were moved into the Public Statuary. This construction was completed in 1596.

In later centuries there were new donations and in 1811, given the large amount of work, it became necessary to transfer some of them to the Doge’s Palace. Between 1915 and 1918, during the First World War, the works on display at Palazzo Ducale were transferred to Florence, to then return to Venice between 1919 and 1920. Because of this, was created a better accommodation in the New Procuratie, the current exhibition venue.

In the inside of the Archaeological Museum are housed a collection of ancient Greek sculptures including the V-IV century B.C., the Roman era portraits, reliefs, ceramics, gems, ivory, inscriptions and a collection of numismatic.

Find the Archaeological Museum on the Map