Biblioteca Marciana

The Biblioteca Marciana ( Library of St Mark, Library of San Marco, Libreria Marciana, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Libreria Sansoviniana, National Library Marciana, Libreria Vecchia or Libreria di San Marco) is one of the largest libraries of Italy and one of the most important collections of Greek, Latin and Oriental manuscripts. It is located at the lower end of the Piazza San Marco, Campanile and between Zecca, in Venice.

History of the Library

The library is the result of valuable foundations. The first donation was made in 1362 by Francesco Petrarca, Venice bequeathed his manuscript collection. The second outstanding patron was Cardinal Bessarion. He gave on May 31, 1468 his private library ( 746 volumes, including 482 Greek and 264 Latin manuscripts and about 300 prints) of the Republic of Venice, for the general benefit of the people, ad hominum communem utilitatem. The two foundations formed the basis of the library of the Cathedral of San Marco ( Marciana ).

The library grew by the incorporation of library materials in the field by the Republic of Venice, and thanks to the generous donations by other makers. Particularly noteworthy are the foundation of 2200 printed books by Melchior von Marienburg from 1589, the Foundation of 1794 of the Amedeo Svajer of 240 manuscripts, including the Testament of Marco Polo, or the donation of Giacomo Nani of 1000, mostly Greek and Oriental manuscripts from 1797.

Thanks to the unique holdings of Greek manuscripts, the library has been since the 16th century to the center of humanistic studies.

1603 Venice enacted a law that of every printed book on Venetian territory one such copy to the Biblioteca Marciana had to be delivered, that is, they took over the function of a national library of the Republic. After the fall of the Republic, many monasteries were secularized by Napoleon, and the library was further growth of monastic libraries.

Book inventory

Special areas of the library are classical philology and Venetian history. It also has a valuable collection of music, as well as atlases and geographical maps of how the world map of Fra Mauro and the city of Venice by Jacopo de Barbari 's famous plan from the year 1500. Among the countless treasures of the library contains two Homer expenses that Homer Venetus a from the 11th century and the Homerus Venetus B of the 12th century, the Chronologia magna of Fra Paolino printed with the first map of Venice, which Pliny Pico della Mirandola for handwriting of 1481, and a copy of the first in Venice book, the Epistolae ad familiares of Cicero from 1481st the 56 volumes of diaries of Marino Sanudo, one of the main sources of Venetian history between 1496-1533, are also in their possession.

A special treasure of the library is the almost complete collection of Aldine. 1843 was the collection of Marco Contarini with valuable opera manuscripts of the 17th century as a donation to the library.

The Libreria

Condition of the gift by Bessarion was that the library should be housed in a dignified place. However, the Republic could be required to settle the obligation lot of time. The collection of books of the Republic was housed in 1362 in a house on the Riva degli Schiavoni, then in San Marco and later in the Ducal Palace.

1534 planned the procurators of a building for new office spaces. Upstairs the library should be housed with reading and lecture halls. 1537 was the architect Sansovino of the procurators of San Marco commissioned to design a library building on the Piazzetta. The construction was started on the Campanile. 1545 collapsed the dome of the reading room and Sansovino went to prison. Thanks to the intercession of influential friends (Titian and Aretino ) but he was released and was able to continue working, but the damage had to remove at his expense. After his death, completed Vincenzo Scamozzi 1582-1588 construction.

The Libreria, especially staircase and reading room were lavishly decorated with works of the first artists in Venice, like Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto Alessandro Vittoria.

In Sansovino's Libreria construction, the library was housed from 1553. 1812, she was again placed in the Doge's Palace, as the building was to be used for other purposes. There they remained until 1904. Nowadays, the collection is back in the Libreria and in the adjacent mint building, which is also built by Sansovino Zecca.

Director of the Library

  • Marcantonio Sabellico (1436-1506)?
  • Pietro Bembo from 1530 ( 1470-1547 )?
  • Jacopo Morelli: 1797-1819
  • Pietro BETTIO: 1819-1846
  • Giuseppe Valentinelli: 1846-1874
  • Giovanni Veludo: 1874-1884
  • Carlo Castellani: 1884-1897
  • Salomone Morpurgo: 1898-1905
  • Carlo Frati: 1906-1913
  • Ulisse Ortensi: 1913
  • Giulio Coggiola: 1913-1919
  • Ester Pastorello: 1919-1920
  • Luigi Ferrari: 1920-1946
  • Pietro Zorzanello: 1948-1951 (1947 "come Reggente "? )
  • Tullia Gasparrini Leporace: 1951-1969
  • Giorgio Emanuele Ferrari: 1969-1973
  • Eugenia Govi: 1973-1976
  • Gian Albino Ravalli Modoni: 1976-1989
  • Marino Zorzi: from 1990
Jacopo Sansovino Bell tower Zecca of Venice Petrarch Giovanni Pico della Mirandola Aldine Press Procuratie Pietro Aretino Marcus Antonius Coccius Sabellicus
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