The Museum was founded in 1861 following the darkest moment in history for Murano glass, after the fall of the Republic in 1797 and long years of foreign dominion.
Antonio Colleoni (1811-1855), then mayor of the island, together with the town abbot Vincenzo Zanetti (1824-1883), a scholar in the art of glass, managed to obtain the rights for an archive from the municipal deputation. Every possible account of the island’s life and history was to be catalogued and preserved in an archive.

Soon enough, the museum took over the archive, thanks to the many donations of glass produced on the island during the previous centuries, and of contemporary glass, by furnace owners that, during the second half of the XIX century, began to work with constancy.

Vincenzo Zanetti in 1862, established a school, linked to the Museum, that glass makers attended during holidays, studying drawing and the glass work was preserved here.

Following the annexing of Murano to the City of Venice, in 1923,  the Museum entered the complex of Venice’s Musei Civici.  Its collections were enlarged thanks to the Correr, Cicogna and Molin possessions that comprehend amongst the richest Renaissance glass objects.

Later, the archaeological superintendence’s storage made it possible to establish an archaeological section where the most precious elements are glass objects coming from Enona’s (Zara) necropolis.

Even nowadays the Museum’s collection is being  enlarged through purchases and donations made by the island furnaces, that mainly go to enrich the contemporary collection.

Useful Information

Address: Fondamenta Giustinian 8, Murano
Telephone: (+39)041739586
Times: from 1 April to 1 Novermber October 10.00 a.m.- 6.00 p.m.
from 2 November to 31 March 10.00 a.m.-5.00 p.m.(ticket booth closes 30 minutes beforehand)
Closed on Wednesdays, 25 December, 1 January, 1 May
Entrance: full price 5,50 € reduced 3 €, full price € 18, reduced € 12 (Museum Pass); full price € 13, reduced € 7.50 (San Marco Museum Plus)
Web: www.museiciviciveneziani.it
E-mail: mkt.musei@comune.venezia.it
Actv Transport Lines:  41, 42, 61, 62, 71, 72 fermata Murano Museo