NATIONAL LIBRARY MARCIANA
The National Library Marciana is one of the biggest Italian library and is devoted to Venice’s Patron, Saint Mark, being placed just in Saint Mark’s Square. The life of this important institution become in 1468, when Cardinal Giovanni Bessarione donated to Venice a large number of important books. The building started in 1536 and was projected by Jacopo Sansovino. The library has only two floors: the low and the upper. The arches of low floor are realized in Doric order, while the gallery is in Ionic order. At the top of the building there is a balustrade surmounted by classical deities’ statues.
The inner decorations were realized, among others, by Tiziano, Paolo Veronesi and Tintoretto. The inner walls are painted with philosophers’ imaginary portraits and other paintings.
To understand the importance of this library, numbers are important. In fact there are, among others, 622.804 printed volumes, 2.887 incunabula and 13.133 manuscripts. The Marciana is specialized in classical philology and Venice’s history.
The most important copies you can find are two very famous manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad: the “Homerus Venetus A” and the “Homerus Venetus B”; the “Chronologia Magna” by Friar Paolino: a manuscript by Plinius dated 1481. There are also a huge collection of maps and atlas, both historical and modern, such as the World’s Map by Friar Mauro and the Venice’s map by Jacopo de Barbari.