The Museo Correr in Venice, Italy; a museum on Saint Mark's Square

Visit Museo Correr, Venice

The Museo Correr is situated on Saint Mark's Square in Venice. It is next to the National Archaeological Museum of Venice and is one of the 11 civic museums to be found in Venice.

Explore the Museo Correr

Italy This Way Review: The Museo Correr has an interesting collection of exhibits housed in one of the beautiful buildings on Saint Mark's Square. Visit if you have time but focus first on exploring the streets and canals of Venice.

The Correr Museum started out with a donation by Teodora Correr in 1830. Correr had been a life-long collector of works of art, documents and varied objects related to the history of Venice. Upon his death he left his collection and his Palazzo on the Grand Canal to the city of Venice.

Subsequently other families also donated to the collection and eventually in 1870 the collection was moved to the Fondaco dei Turchi. In 1992 it was moved again to Saint Mark's Square where it is currently housed.

The building on the south side of Saint Mark's Square is known as the Napoleonic wing. It was built when Venice was part of the Kingdom of Italy, which was in a union with France's Napoleon Bonaparte.

The Napoleonic wing has been home to kings and emperors and it is interesting to explore the building as part of the visit as well as the collections housed here. The visit passes through various rooms including the ballroom, a throne room, a dining room and an audience room.

At the begining of the tour of the museum there is a display of works by Antonio Canova and includes a large display of drawings for his marble sculptures. There are also examples of his models in clay were he developed his sketches before working on his marbles.

In the "Salle delle vedute", "room of views" you can see one of his masterpieces; Daedalus and Icarus sculpted in marble.

On the first floor of the museum are twenty rooms with exhibits from and depicting Venetian life over the centuries. There is a library of rare manuscripts and printed works from the 16 to 18th century. In the room is a lovely chandelier of Murano glass made in the 18th century.

Paintings of magistrates, a large collection of coins, paintings of Venice and the sea, maps and views of Venice and a room of armaments are next in the visit.

There is then a display of Renaissance Majolica. A collection of plates known as the "Correr service" which are beautifully painted ceramics and recognised as masterpieces of Italian Renaissance Majolica.

The Correr museum also has a large collection of small bronze figures which are mostly animal or mythological subjects.

Othere exhibits include woodcut prints and paintings of aspects of Venetian life and displays of Venetian arts and crafts.

The Correr museum can be visited as part of a combined ticket to visit the museums of Saint Mark's Square. These are the Doge's Palace, the Archaeological Museum and the Marciana Library as well as the Correr museum.

Attractions nearby

Venice is a superb city to explore both night and day. The main attractions are Saint Mark's Square, Saint Mark's Basilica, Saint Mark's Campanile for its great views, the Doges Palace, the Grand Canal and the Rialto Bridge.

If you have time also visit the Scala Contarini del Bovolo spiral staircase, the National Archaeological Museum, the Fondaco-dei-Tadeschi and the Academy of Art.

Further afield are the Venice Lido and the islands of Murano with its amazing glass and Burano with its pretty painted houses.

You can find more local travel ideas in the Venice guide and the Venice-Veneto guide.