Museo Bottacin - Palazzo Zuckermann

Palazzo Zuckermann brings together two civic collections in Padua: the Bottacin Museum of coins, medals and art, and a collection of applied arts displayed across the lower floors. Nicola Bottacin donated his collection to the city in 1865, and the numismatic rooms preserve the character of his Trieste villa.

Why it matters

Nicola Bottacin, a merchant born in Padua who made his fortune in Trieste, gave his art works and coins to his native city in 1865. His donation forms the core of the Bottacin Museum, whose numismatic collection spans Greek, Roman and Byzantine issues and includes medals and seals. The museum presents the collection as a unit, reflecting the donor’s own way of arranging his holdings. Alongside it, the applied-arts collection brings together more than 2,000 objects from the civic art museum.

What to notice

The Bottacin collection occupies the second floor, where coins, medals, decorations, paintings, furniture, Chinese ceramics and ancient weapons are displayed in rooms arranged to evoke the donor’s Trieste villa. The ground and first floors house the applied-arts holdings: Venetian glass, intaglios, ceramics, silverware, ivory, jewellery, textiles and furniture. Together, the collections trace changing forms of artistic production and domestic life, from numismatic objects to decorative crafts.

Context and history

Palazzo Zuckermann serves as a counterpart to Padua’s Eremitani museum complex. The Bottacin Museum preserves a collection assembled by one nineteenth-century donor, while the applied-arts floors draw on the holdings of the city’s Museo d’Arte Medievale e Moderna. The museum’s numismatic collection is regarded as one of Europe’s most prestigious. The palace and its collections form part of Padua’s civic museum network.