Fodor's Expert Review Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Venezia
Venice is the only major Italian city without an ancient past, yet it hosts a collection of ancient art that rivals those in Rome and Naples. The small museum housing this collection was first established in 1596, when the heirs of Cardinal Domenico Grimani—a noted humanist who had left his collection of original Greek (5th–1st centuries BC) and Roman antiquities to the Republic—inaugurated the historical artworks in Sansovino's then recently completed library in Piazza San Marco. You can see part of the collection, displayed just as Grimani (or at least his immediate heirs) had conceived it, in the vestibule of the Libreria Sansoviniana, which the museum shares with the Biblioteca Marciana. Highlights in the rest of the museum include the statue of Kore (420 BC); the 1st-century BC Ara Grimani, an elaborate Hellenistic altar stone with a bacchanalian scene; and a tiny but refined 1st-century BC crystal woman's head, which some say depicts Cleopatra. When you arrive, scan... READ MORE
Venice is the only major Italian city without an ancient past, yet it hosts a collection of ancient art that rivals those in Rome and Naples. The small museum housing this collection was first established in 1596, when the heirs of Cardinal Domenico Grimani—a noted humanist who had left his collection of original Greek (5th–1st centuries BC) and Roman antiquities to the Republic—inaugurated the historical artworks in Sansovino's then recently completed library in Piazza San Marco. You can see part of the collection, displayed just as Grimani (or at least his immediate heirs) had conceived it, in the vestibule of the Libreria Sansoviniana, which the museum shares with the Biblioteca Marciana. Highlights in the rest of the museum include the statue of Kore (420 BC); the 1st-century BC Ara Grimani, an elaborate Hellenistic altar stone with a bacchanalian scene; and a tiny but refined 1st-century BC crystal woman's head, which some say depicts Cleopatra. When you arrive, scan the QR code to get a handy museum guide on your phone.
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