Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Renaissance library at St. Mark's Square, Venice, Italy
The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana is a Renaissance national library at St. Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. The building spans two floors with tall vaulted halls that hold ancient manuscripts, rare books, maps, and classical documents from several centuries.
Cardinal Bessarion donated 750 codices and manuscripts in 1468, creating the first public library in Italy for Venice. Jacopo Sansovino designed the current building starting in 1537 to house the growing collection of Greek and Latin works.
The reading room on the upper floor houses manuscripts from Greek scholars who fled to Venice after Constantinople fell. The collection shows how the city served as a gateway between East and West, preserving ancient knowledge for later generations.
Entry is available through a combined ticket with the Doge's Palace, which grants access to both buildings. The halls are located on the first floor above ground and can be reached via the staircase from the courtyard.
Since 1603, Venetian law has required all publishers to deposit one copy of every printed book with the library. This rule contributed to steady collection growth over four centuries, making it a complete archive of Venetian publishing.
Location: Venice
Inception: May 31, 1468
Architects: Jacopo Sansovino
Creator: Giuseppe Porta
Architectural style: Renaissance architecture
Phone: +390412407211
Email: biblioteca@marciana.venezia.sbn.it
Website: https://marciana.venezia.sbn.it
GPS coordinates: 45.43333,12.33917
Latest update: December 5, 2025 22:23
European historic libraries and bookshops preserve written heritage accumulated over centuries. From Livraria Bertrand in Lisbon, founded in 1732 and still operating at the same location, to the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which has housed over 13 million works since 1602, these sites reflect the evolution and dissemination of books. Livraria Lello in Porto is notable for its curved wooden staircase and neo-Gothic woodwork from 1906, while Dominicanen Bookshop in Maastricht is housed in a converted 13th-century church. These spaces are distinguished by their architecture, from baroque to neo-Gothic, and by their function preserved across centuries. The Celsus Library in Izmir, built in 135 AD, used double walls to protect its 12,000 parchments from humidity. Hatchards in London has been operating since 1797 over five floors in Piccadilly, whereas Shakespeare and Company in Paris has maintained its English-language tradition since 1951 opposite Notre-Dame. These institutions offer visitors the chance to explore places where the history of the book is engraved in stone and wood.
St Mark's Basilica
131 m
Piazza San Marco
118 m
Bridge of Sighs
155 m
St Mark's Campanile
78 m
Horses of Saint Mark
126 m
Portrait of the Four Tetrarchs
109 m
Doge's Palace
104 m
St Mark's Clocktower
156 m
Museo Correr
170 m
Columns of San Marco and San Teodoro
42 m
St Mark's Clock
62 m
Giardini Reali
107 m
Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Venice
108 m
Loggetta
80 m
Treasury of San Marco
131 m
Ponte della Paglia
149 m
Doge's Palace
104 m
Porta della Carta
104 m
Fonteghetto della Farina
164 m
Museo dell'Opera
124 m
Museo Correr Library
157 m
Negozio Olivetti
157 m
National Archeological Museum
96 m
Sala del Maggior Consiglio - Palazzo Ducale
102 m
Column of San Marco
58 m
Ponte dei Dai
168 m
Ponte Compagnia della Vela
30 m
Lion of Venice, Piazzetta San Marco
58 mReviews
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