Museo del Vetro

Murano's Glass Museum occupies the former palace of the bishops of Torcello. Founded in 1861, it presents the island's glassmaking history through archaeological finds, Renaissance and Baroque works, nineteenth-century production and twentieth-century design.

Why it matters

Managed by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, the museum offers a broad historical survey of Muranese glass. Its collections trace the craft from archaeological origins through the golden age of the fourteenth to seventeenth centuries, the revival of the mid-nineteenth century and twentieth-century design.

What to notice

The palace retains traces of its medieval, flowing-Gothic form in the courtyard-facing windows and an atrium column with its capital. In the seventeenth century, Bishop Marco Giustinian remodelled the building with Antonio Gaspari. The main floor's frescoed central hall has a ceiling by Francesco Zugno, set within architectural quadrature by Francesco Zanchi, celebrating the Triumph of San Lorenzo Giustiniani, the first patriarch of Venice and an ancestor of the donor. The collection is arranged chronologically, including archaeological glass, beads and millefiori, eighteenth-century objects, glass from the 1850–95 revival, and design from 1900 to 1970. The Spazio Conterie is devoted to the bead industry.

Context and history

The palace began as a patrician residence. In 1689 Marco Giustinian, bishop of Torcello, moved his seat there, purchased the building and donated it to the diocese; Antonio Gaspari led a major remodelling. The diocese of Torcello was suppressed in 1805. The palace passed to the Patriarchate of Venice and was sold to the Comune di Murano in 1840 for use as the town hall. In 1861 the first museum and archive collections were installed in the central hall and later expanded through the building. When Murano merged with the Comune di Venezia in 1923, the palace and museum entered the civic museum system.