Murano Island History

Venice, and especially Murano island, is famous all over the world for its glass production. This art in Venice is supposed to date back to the period when the Veneto people moved to the estuary islands after having lived in flourishing Roman coastal towns on the Adriatic ( from Adria to Altino) and where they had learned Roman glassmaking techniques.
The art of glassmaking developed from 12th to 14th Centuries, through contact with East, particularly Syria, Egypt and the Eastern Roman Empire as a consequence of wars and commercial enterprises. On 1441, was created the including the "Mariegola dell'Arte dei Verieri de Muran", that stated rules which covered all the phases of glassmaking - from production to selling, taxes and the relations between the owners, glass masters and other workers in the factory.
The Murano Glass Museum was founded in 1861, in order to set up archives consisting of any available information in order to map out the history and life of the island, and collections were increased thanks to the fact that a large number of glass pieces made on the island over the centuries as well as contemporary objects were donated by the ownwers of the glass factories.
The museum is seat of the ancient residence of the bishops of Torcello; originally a patrician's palace, it became the residence of Bishop Marco Giustinian, and was then donated to the Torcello diocese; when it was abolished, the palace passed into the hands of the Venice Patriarchate, which in turn sold it to the Murano Municipality in 1848, and it became the town hall. After the autonomous Murano Municipality was abolished, the palace became one of the Civic Venetian Museums.
On 1862, a school was annexed to the museum, attended by the glassworkers on their days off, to study design as well as past examples of blown glass. After its transformation into Civic Museum on 1923, collections were put in order and further expanded by the addition of the Correr, Cicogna and Molin Collections. The archeological section was also set up, outstanding exhibits from the necropolises of Enona (Zara).

Virtual Tours

Check out this really cool virtual tour site that was previewed on King 5 this morning!  Many of the places we are going on the cruise are featured.


http://www.arounder.com

Venice Webcam

Click on the link below to enjoy the amazing views from live webcams in Venice!

http://www.comune.venezia.it/webcam/bacinoSM.asp