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Domus Grimani 1594-2019

by habituallychic

08 . 15 . 19

If you are anywhere in Italy from now until 2021, make sure you plan a visit to the Palazzo Grimani in Venice. It re-opened this summer with the spectacular Domus Grimani 1594 – 2019 exhibition after major restoration work which is the result of several architectural interventions carried out in the sixteenth century by Giovanni Grimani, Patriarch of Aquileia, and his brother Vettore, Procuratore di San Marco, heirs to Antonio Grimani, the original owner of the palace.

Patriarch Giovanni Grimani was a sophisticated collector and placed in the building his collection of antiquities, which included sculptures, marbles, vases, bronzes and precious stones.The most important sculptures were located in the extraordinary room named “Camerino delle Antichità” (Chamber of Antiquities). In 1587 Giovanni Grimani decided to donate these sculptures to the Republic of Venice.

After his death, the sculptures, which today are part of the collection of the Museo Archeologico of Venice, were placed in the entrance hall of the Biblioteca Marciana, designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi, known as the Statuario della Repubblica di Venezia (Statue-maker of the Republic of Venice).

The ceiling of the hall of the Statuario della Repubblica di Venezia will be restored starting February 2019, an important intervention that will last at least two years. To carry out this restoration, all the statues adorning the walls of the room have been removed. This offers us the unique possibility to temporarily reset the Collezione Grimani in its original location, after more than 400 years.

Specifically, the exhibition project calls for the placing of the Collezione Grimani, which includes Greek and Roman works of art, in the spectacular Sala della Tribuna in Palazzo Grimani, where it was located up to 1590.

The Domus Grimani 1594 – 2019 exhibition is open until May 30, 2021.