Description
The Correr Museum is Venice's civic museum, telling the story of the city in every aspect. It stands in St Mark's Square, in the Napoleonic Wing and the New Procuratie, the former residence of Napoleon and the Habsburgs. Inside are Canova's sculptures, Sissi's apartment and a picture gallery with Bellini and Carpaccio.
The name comes from Teodoro Correr, a Venetian nobleman who collected everything all his life: paintings, statues, illuminated manuscripts, coins, gems. On his death in 1830 he left it all to the city, palace included, to become a museum.
The collections grew bequest by bequest. In 1922 they were moved to St Mark's Square, into the Napoleonic Wing: Napoleon had it built where the church of San Geminiano stood, to make it part of his residence. Then came the Habsburgs, who redecorated the rooms in Empire style.
You begin in the neoclassical ballroom, with its ceiling frescoed with Peace surrounded by Virtues and Geniuses of Olympus. In the following rooms are two groups by Antonio Canova: Orpheus and Eurydice, and Daedalus and Icarus.
A little further on, Sissi's apartment: the throne room, the audience rooms, the boudoir, the bathroom and the empress's bedroom. Sissi stayed here several times, between 1856 and 1862.
The route continues with Venetian civilization: portraits of doges and magistrates, coins, historic flags, Venice and the sea, the battle of Lepanto, navigation instruments. Then the festivals, with the last Bucintoro, and the arts and crafts.
On the second floor is the Quadreria, about 140 paintings, mostly from the Correr bequest: panels by Giovanni Bellini, Antonello da Messina, Cosmè Tura and Vittore Carpaccio. The display is by Carlo Scarpa, who between 1957 and 1960 chose walnut frames and light tones, with natural light.
The third director, Vincenzo Lazari, put that chaos of wonders in order. But he also destroyed documents and objects that, in his view, did not do honor to the donor.
The Wunderkammer occupies nine rooms on the first floor: a cabinet of curiosities with objects of sacred art, northern paintings, rarities and evidence of the taste for antiquity of the Venetian patricians of the 1500s. It is the most curious side of the museum.
Don't miss
• Canova's sculptures.
• Sissi's apartment.
• The Quadreria.
• The Wunderkammer.
Did you know?
• The museum owns over 50,000 coins and medals and the Republic's historic flags.
• From the Correr collection, grown bequest by bequest, the whole network of the Civic Museums of Venice was born.
The name comes from Teodoro Correr, a Venetian nobleman who collected everything all his life: paintings, statues, illuminated manuscripts, coins, gems. On his death in 1830 he left it all to the city, palace included, to become a museum.
The collections grew bequest by bequest. In 1922 they were moved to St Mark's Square, into the Napoleonic Wing: Napoleon had it built where the church of San Geminiano stood, to make it part of his residence. Then came the Habsburgs, who redecorated the rooms in Empire style.
You begin in the neoclassical ballroom, with its ceiling frescoed with Peace surrounded by Virtues and Geniuses of Olympus. In the following rooms are two groups by Antonio Canova: Orpheus and Eurydice, and Daedalus and Icarus.
A little further on, Sissi's apartment: the throne room, the audience rooms, the boudoir, the bathroom and the empress's bedroom. Sissi stayed here several times, between 1856 and 1862.
The route continues with Venetian civilization: portraits of doges and magistrates, coins, historic flags, Venice and the sea, the battle of Lepanto, navigation instruments. Then the festivals, with the last Bucintoro, and the arts and crafts.
On the second floor is the Quadreria, about 140 paintings, mostly from the Correr bequest: panels by Giovanni Bellini, Antonello da Messina, Cosmè Tura and Vittore Carpaccio. The display is by Carlo Scarpa, who between 1957 and 1960 chose walnut frames and light tones, with natural light.
The third director, Vincenzo Lazari, put that chaos of wonders in order. But he also destroyed documents and objects that, in his view, did not do honor to the donor.
The Wunderkammer occupies nine rooms on the first floor: a cabinet of curiosities with objects of sacred art, northern paintings, rarities and evidence of the taste for antiquity of the Venetian patricians of the 1500s. It is the most curious side of the museum.
Don't miss
• Canova's sculptures.
• Sissi's apartment.
• The Quadreria.
• The Wunderkammer.
Did you know?
• The museum owns over 50,000 coins and medals and the Republic's historic flags.
• From the Correr collection, grown bequest by bequest, the whole network of the Civic Museums of Venice was born.