The library, by Jacopo Sansovino, was built and decorated with the most well known painters’ works of the Renaissance between 1537 and 1560 to worthily accommodate the Greek and Latin codes given to the Venetian Republic by the Cardinal Bessarione in 1468. Still today it belongs as monumental office to the Marciana National Library, together with the building of the Zecca, where there are the reading rooms and the offices.
From the gate, decorated with two Caryatids by Vittoria, you enter the Library through a noble stair with two flights, with vault ceiling along which there are six Roman columns of rare marbles from the Basilica in Pola. On the first floor there is one of the rarest sample of the wonderful aerial view map of Venice by Jacopo de' Barbari (1500), a masterpiece of art and precise copy of the real form of the city.
On the ceiling of the vestibule, that once was the Museo Statuario della Repubblica and held some Greek statues and reliefs, stands out La Sapienza by Tiziano (1560).
The sala della Libreria (Library hall) covered by a vault decorated with works by seven artists chosen by Tiziano and Sansovino, have on its walls portraits of philosophers, some of them by Tintoretto and Veronese. The current library has precious manuscripts, such as the 16th century’s Breviario Grimani and some old editions, among them some by Aldo Manuzio.
Useful information:
The Monumental Halls are accessible from the entrance to the Correr Museum (St. Mark's Square, Ala Napoleonica) with the single ticket to the Museums of St. Mark's Square (valid for the Correr Museum, the National Archaeological Museum, the Museum Rooms of the Marcian National Library and the Palace Ducal)
Address: Piazza S.Marco 13/a cap 30124 - Venezia
Opening hours: from November 1st to March 31st 10 am – 5 pm (ticket office 10 am – 4 pm)
from April 1st to October 31st 10 am – 7 pm (ticket office 10 am – 6 pm)
Closed on Jan.1st and Dec. 25th
Price:
Full price Ticket: € 20,00;
Reduced Ticket: € 13,00
Contacts:
Phone: +39 0412407223, +39 0412407211
Fax: +39 0415238803
E-Mail: biblioteca@marciana.venezia.sbn.it
Web: marciana.venezia.sbn.it/
Services: free guided visit to the Monumental halls of the Libreria Sansoviniana.
How to get there: ferry boat stop "San Marco" or "San Zaccaria"
