Museum of Palazzo Venezia in Rome

Brief historical notes. The museum is housed in what was the grandiose papal residence of the Venetian Paolo II Barbo (1464-1471), a great collector and ideal initiator of the museum’s and artistic destiny of the building. Established in 1921, the Museum polarizes its interest around the so-called “applied arts”. Its collections were formed starting from a first nucleus of sculptures and works from Castel Sant’Angelo, from the National Gallery of Ancient Art and from the collections of the nearby museum of the Roman College. The artistic material of the original collection was composed of works mainly from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, evidence of particular sectors of decorative art such as small bronzes, enamels, marbles and Italian-made ceramics.