Murano Glass Museums

From: Murano, the Glass Island

ABOVE: The Museo Vetrario, or Glass Museum, is on the Canale San Donato, just around the corner from the Museo waterbus stop.

Museo Vetrario

Murano's fascinating Museo Vetrario, a.k.a. the Glass Museum or Museum of Glass, offers a century-by-century tour of Venetian glassmaking.

The city-owned museum is located in the Palazzo Giustinian near the island's center. It has samples of glass from Egyptian times through the present day, and the displays show how the art and manufacture of glass developed over the centuries.

Reaching the museum: The Museo Vetrario is on the Fondamenta Giustinian, between the Museo Actv (waterbus) stop and the Basilica of Santi Maria e Donato. As you get off the boat at Museo, turn right, follow the fondamenta or canal sidewalk around the corner, and continue a short distance to the museum.

Accessibility: A staircase leads to the museum galleries, but a wheelchair lift is due to be installed at some point in the future. (E-mail mkt.musei@comune.venezia.it for current details.)

For up-to-date information, including ticket prices, see the English-language pages at the Venice Civic Museums Web site.

The Barovier & Toso Museum

Barvovier & Toso, a long-established glassmaking dynasty and manufacturer of art glass on Murano, has a private museum with some 250 objects in the Palazzo Contarini on the Fondamenta Vetrai. It also has an archive with more than 22,000 drawings, photos, and other documents related to glass.

Free guided tours of the museum are offered from Monday to Friday between 10-12 and 2-5, and it's a good idea to book ahead. See the museum pages of the Barovier & Toso Web site for details and photos of the museum's collection. (Click the site's Union Jack icon for English text.)

Next page: Glass factories - public visits

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