Discover Palazzo Venezia (Museo Nazionale)

The Museo Nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia has its seat in what was the grandiose papal dwelling of the Venetian Paul II Barbo (1464-1471) — a great enthusiast of collecting and, Turismo Roma says, the ideal initiator of the building's museum and artistic destiny.

The museum itself was instituted in 1921. Its collections formed from a first nucleus of sculptures and works coming from Castel Sant'Angelo, from the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and from the collections of the nearby Museo del Collegio Romano, founded in the seventeenth century by the encyclopedic Jesuit Athanasius Kircher.

The original material was medieval and Renaissance. It was evidence of particular sectors of decorative art — small bronzes, enamels, marbles and ceramics of Italian manufacture.

Then came a wave of confiscations. Between 1924 and 1926 various objects were added — whole ceramic sets, ecclesiastical furnishings, silverware, goldwork and sacred vestments — confiscated from the religious orders suppressed at the end of the previous century and coming from various monastic communities in the region.

After the war it became something definable. Following substantial bequests and numerous public and private donations, the museum little by little defined its character as a great Museum of Applied Arts.

What it holds now spans centuries and media. Paintings on panel and canvas of the 15th to 18th centuries, eighteenth-century pastels, Italian and German wooden sculpture, terracotta bozzetti and reliefs of the 1500s and 1600s, early medieval and Renaissance marbles, a very vast collection of ceramics, and a textile section of tapestries, carpets, Coptic fabrics, modern sacred and profane fabrics, lace, headdresses and hair ornaments — besides cassoni and furniture, wrought iron, door and window fittings, and a considerable collection of ancient arms and armour.

The building is a fifteenth-century papal residence, and that is its architecture. Turismo Roma describes it as the grandiose papal dwelling of the Venetian Paul II Barbo (1464-1471).

Its most-used space today is open to the sky. The Giardino Grande di Palazzo Venezia is a garden within the complex, with free entry every day from 9.30 to 19.30 — the one part of the architecture anybody can walk into without a ticket.

Its state rooms are the part under repair. The Sale Storiche are temporarily closed to the public for restoration, and the city advises always checking the official site for updates.

The collections include architecture in miniature. Among the holdings are early medieval and Renaissance marbles, wrought iron and door and window fittings — building elements collected as works in their own right, which is characteristic of a museum of the applied arts.

And its first nucleus came from other buildings. Sculptures and works arrived from Castel Sant'Angelo, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and the Museo del Collegio Romano.

It was built as a pope's house by a pope who collected. The palace is the grandiose papal dwelling of the Venetian Paul II Barbo (1464-1471), whom Turismo Roma calls a great enthusiast of collecting and the ideal initiator of the building's museum and artistic destiny.

The museum was assembled rather than founded. Instituted in 1921, its collections formed starting from a first nucleus of sculptures and works taken from Castel Sant'Angelo, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and the Museo del Collegio Romano, the latter founded in the seventeenth century by the encyclopedic Jesuit Athanasius Kircher.

Its second intake came from closures, not purchases. Between 1924 and 1926 the museum received whole ceramic sets, ecclesiastical furnishings, silverware, goldwork and sacred vestments confiscated from the religious orders suppressed at the end of the previous century, from various monastic communities in the region.

Its identity was formed after a war. After the interval of the last war, through substantial bequests and numerous public and private donations, it little by little defined its character as a great Museum of Applied Arts.

And it is being worked on now. The Sale Storiche are temporarily closed to the public for restoration.

Are the historic rooms open? No. Turismo Roma states that the Sale Storiche are temporarily closed to the public for restoration, and advises always checking the official site.

What are the opening hours? No opening time is published. The city gives only last entry at 18.45 and closed 25 December.

How much does it cost? No price is published. Online purchase is through vive.eventim-inhouse.de, with telephone booking on 06 32810.

Is anything free? Yes — the Giardino Grande di Palazzo Venezia has free entry every day from 9.30 to 19.30, last entry 18.45.

Whose palace was it? The grandiose papal dwelling of the Venetian Paul II Barbo (1464-1471), a great enthusiast of collecting.

When did it become a museum? It was instituted in 1921.

Where did the first collections come from? From Castel Sant'Angelo, the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica and the collections of the nearby Museo del Collegio Romano, founded in the seventeenth century by the encyclopedic Jesuit Athanasius Kircher.

What arrived in the 1920s? Whole ceramic sets, ecclesiastical furnishings, silverware, goldwork and sacred vestments, confiscated from the religious orders suppressed at the end of the previous century.

What kind of museum is it? A great Museum of Applied Arts, a character it defined little by little after the war through bequests and donations.

What is actually in it? Paintings of the 15th–18th centuries, 18th-century pastels, Italian and German wooden sculptures, terracotta bozzetti and reliefs of the 1500s and 1600s, early medieval and Renaissance marbles, a very vast ceramics collection, tapestries, carpets, Coptic and modern fabrics, lace, headdresses, cassoni, furniture, wrought iron and fittings, and a considerable collection of ancient arms and armour.

Where is it? Piazza Venezia 3 and Via del Plebiscito 118.