Gallerie dell'Accademia, National art museum in Dorsoduro district, Venice, Italy
Gallerie dell'Accademia is a national art museum in the Dorsoduro district of Venice that displays Venetian painting from the Middle Ages through the 18th century. The museum spreads across several connected buildings, including a former church and monastery, where works are presented in thematically arranged rooms.
The collection began in 1817 after the fall of the Venetian Republic, when artworks from dissolved monasteries and churches were gathered together. Over the course of the 19th century the museum moved into its current premises and expanded its holdings through donations and acquisitions.
The plural name comes from the plaster casts and student works that formed the first collection, opened to the public on 10 August 1817. The Accademia di Belle Arti, founded in 1750, shared the building until 2004, when the school moved to the Ospedale degli Incurabili. The Ponte dell'Accademia and the vaporetto stop are named after the academy.
The best time to visit is early morning or late afternoon to avoid the heaviest crowds. The rooms are well lit and clearly laid out, so you can move through the galleries at a relaxed pace.
The museum's name in the plural, "Gallerie", comes from the plaster casts and student works that formed its first collection. The large canvases were moved here from dissolved churches and convents after 1807, and some still hang in the two upper halls created inside the former church of Santa Maria della Carità, whose Gothic windows were walled up.
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