Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana

The National Marciana Library brings a major manuscript collection together with the Renaissance architecture of Jacopo Sansovino's Libreria. Facing the Doge's Palace across the Piazzetta, the building gives learning a prominent place within Venice's civic centre.

Why it matters

Cardinal Bessarion's gift of Greek and Latin codices in 1468 established the foundation of the library. The collection represents Venice's role in preserving and studying classical and Byzantine learning, while the purpose-built Libreria expresses the Republic's ambitions for a public institution.

What to notice

Arcades, sculptural ornament and a crowning line of classical figures articulate the façade. The monumental staircase leads to the vestibule and the great hall, enriched with ceiling paintings and stucco. The library's holdings include Fra Mauro's world map and the Grimani Breviary, works whose importance extends beyond the history of the building itself.

Context and history

Sansovino began the Libreria in 1537, and Vincenzo Scamozzi continued its completion after his death. In 1596 the vestibule became the setting of the Statuario Pubblico, an early public collection of antiquities. The library later occupied the Doge's Palace and then the former Mint, or Zecca, returning to the Sansoviniana building in the 1920s.