Silk Road Trip! 6 Venetian Merchants on the Silk Road in 1338 - From Venice to Delhi

From Venice to Delhi - Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) In the summer of 1338, six noble Venetian merchants took off on a life-changing road trip. They had formed a societas, or company -- sort of like an early form of a limited partnership -- and left Venice on a trading adventure. The plan was to travel the Silk Road until they reached the Sultanate of Delhi on the Indian subcontinent. 

With global trade deals and tariffs blaring across today's headlines in 2025, it is important to remember that all this commotion about trading with foreign competitors is nothing new. As early as the 1300s, Venetian merchants had already formed trade companies to do business with Persia, India, and China. They had colonies in Constantinople and Crimea. (And yes, the head of the Venetian Republic was called the Doge:-) 

If you know a bit about Venice, you will recognize the family names of members of the societas:

• Giovanni Loredan
• Paolo Loredan
• Andrea Loredan
• Marco Soranzo
• Marino Contarini
• Baldovino Querini

Giovanni Loredan organized the trip. The nobles had been to China before, hauling back a load of spices from the East, which they had exchanged for amber, and Flemish and Florentine woolen cloths. 

 

That first trip had been financed by an early version of crowd funding, with contributions coming from a wide range of people, including a group of Venetian women -- backed by Caterina, Giovanni's mother. 

Now the noble merchants wanted to go to India to do business. Because of the nature of global trade, the goods and investments loaded in Venice were not necessarily the same as those that would arrive in Delhi. The continuous purchases and sales of goods would respond to the tastes and needs of the market the merchants encountered along the Silk Road. 

 

Caterina did everything she could to convince her son not to make the second perilous voyage. 

But Giovanni could not be dissuaded. He believed a fortune would be made if they could reach the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad bin Tughluq, whose Sultanate ruled most of India. For the journey to Delhi, the partners had a common capital of 12,600 ducats, equal to more than 44 kg (97 lbs) of gold.
 

It was said that the Sultan would receive guests in the gigantic hall of the 'Thousand Pillars,' reclining on a raised throne covered with white carpets and cushions. Surrounding the Sultan were hundreds of nobles, courtiers, and soldiers, and harnessed horses and elephants.

 

The Sultan was "famous for acts of great generosity but also for his extreme cruelty." If the Sultan liked the gifts bestowed upon him, he would respond by giving gifts worth three times their value in return. 

So, in addition to other goods, Giovanni & Co. shrewdly brought with them the latest marvels of European technology: a mechanical clock and a mechanical fountain. Both gifts had been made in Venice by the goldsmith Mondino da Cremona, the go-to guy for gifts for world leaders. A few years earlier, da Cremona had sold a clock to the king of Cyprus for an impressive 800 ducats, equal to almost 3kg (6.61 lbs) of gold.

Parchment of the 1350 court case - Photo: Cat Bauer

How do we know all this?

The Archivio di Stato in Venice is one of the largest in Italy, and is located inside the former convent of Santa Maria dei Frari. Venetians were terrific about keeping written records. The Venice State Archive preserves more than 1000 years of Venetian history, covering about 80 km (50 miles) of shelves.

Hidden within the labyrinthine archives of Venice was a fragile 1350 parchment about a court case brought by Alberto de Calle against the heirs of his son-in-law -- who happened to be our protagonist,  Giovanni Loredan. 

The 14th century parchment had been found and forgotten in the State Archives decades ago, and had been lost for more than 70 years.. It was largely overlooked by scholars of Venetian history, and in very poor condition.

 

Then, when the celebration of the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death in 2024 was approaching, historian Dr. Luca Molà remembered the parchment. Molà convinced the University of Warwick, where he is a professor, to fund the restoration of the document. The restoration allowed Dr. Molà and his colleague, Marcello Bolognari, to bring the ancient document -- written mostly in Latin with testimonies in Venetian vulgar dialect -- to life.

The 1350 parchment is the record of a long court case. It offers a rich glimpse into a pivotal moment in Silk Road history, and provides a rare insight into Venetian trade with Asia just years after Marco Polo's death in 1324.

Bust of Marco Polo by Augusto Gambo (1862-63)

Marco Polo, the Original Gangster 

Marco Polo was the OG. The six noble Venetian merchants were continuing his journey into the exotic world of the East. In fact, Giovanni Loredan was a distant relative of Marco Polo's. All the other travelers were Marco Polo's neighbors in Venice.

Marco Polo wasn't the first European to make the journey to the East, but he wrote the best seller, Il Milione -- commonly known as The Travels of Marco Polo -- so he is the one we know the best.

Born around 1254 in Venice, Marco Polo came from a family of seasoned merchants. Details are murky, but apparently Marco's mother died when he was young, and he was raised by his extended family.

 

His father, Niccolò, was one of three brothers who were also business partners. The eldest brother, also named Marco, was a resident of Constantinople; the youngest brother was Maffeo. All three made regular journeys to Crimea and beyond.

 

While Niccolò and Maffeo were in Bukhara (Uzbekistan) in 1260, a center of trade on the Silk Road, they met messengers on their way to meet the great Mongol ruler Kublai Khan. The envoys persuaded the Venetians to accompany them to what is now Beijing.   

 

When they arrived, Kublai Khan -- who was a Buddhist -- was fascinated by what the Polos told him about Europe and the Christian religion. He sent them back West as his special envoys with a letter to Pope Clement IV requesting holy oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, where Jesus Christ was buried, and a 100 missionaries to instruct his people in Christianity.

 

So, off went the Polo brothers. The dates are blurry, but they reached Acre around 1269, then the capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, which roughly corresponds to what is now Israel and the Palestinian territories, southern Lebanon and southwestern Jordan. They met with the papal legate, Teobaldo Visconti, who was representing the Pope in the Holy Land. Visconti was assisting Prince Edward of England (who would become King Edward I) with the Ninth Crusade.

 

The Polos found out that Pope Clement IV had died and the election for his successor was embroiled in turmoil. Visconti suggested that the Polos return to Venice to await the election of a new Pope before attempting to fulfill Kublai Khan's request for the 100 learned Christians and holy oil.

 

Marco was about 15 years old when his father and uncle returned to Venice sometime in 1269 or 1270. The young Venetian was riveted by the tales of their mission for the great Mongolian Emperor Kublai Khan, the first non-Chinese emperor of China, and founder of the Yuan Dynasty.

Kublai Khan's great desire was to rule all of China, a goal he would go on to achieve in 1279 backed by his fierce Mongol fighting forces. Under Kublai Khan, the Mongol Empire grew to 9 million square miles, making it the largest contiguous empire in the history of the world.

 

Map of Mongol Empire - World History Encyclopedia

 
The Second Journey to Kublai Khan

 

In 1271, Niccolò and Maffeo, set off on their second voyage to meet the Great Khan -- this time accompanied by the teenage Marco. They headed to Acre to meet again with the papal legate, Teobaldo Visconti, who was still in the Holy Land. In a remarkable and fortunate turn of events -- after the longest papal vacancy in the history of the Roman Catholic Church -- from 1268 to 1271 -- a new pope was finally elected.

And it was Teobaldo Visconti! Who was as surprised as anyone to receive the news that he had been elected as the new Pope. 

Before Visconti left the Holy Land to return to Italy to assume the papal mantle as Pope Gregory X, he gave the Polo Trio the sacred oil from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, but not the 100 learned Christians requested by Kublai Khan. Instead, they were accompanied by two friars, who did not finish the voyage out of fear.

 

When the Polo Trio arrived in China about four years later, the now 21-year-old Marco Polo met Kublai Khan for the first time. And he was a big hit with the Mongol emperor. Kublai Khan adored the young Venetian and sent him out on diplomatic missions as a foreign emissary throughout this vast empire. 

 

The Polos spent about 20 years in China. Apparently Kublai Khan appreciated the Venetians so much that he would not agree to their departure. Around 1295, when he was about 40, Marco finally was able to return to Venice after escorting a Mongolian princess to her betrothed.

 

To this day, Marco Polo is the symbol of the link between Venice and Asia, West and East. How different would the world be today if the young Venetian had not charmed the exotic ruler of the largest contiguous land empire in the history of the world?

Veneto-Byzantine marble arch, remnants of the Polo family home in Venice - Photo: Cat Bauer

 6 Venetian Merchants on the 1338 Silk Road Trip

Thanks to Il Milione, for the first time, Europeans got a glimpse into the great wealth of the Mongol Empire. For Venetian merchants, the temptation to tap into the exotic trade of the Eastern world was irresistible. By the end of the 13th century, China -- then called Catai -- had suddenly become reachable thanks to the security of the caravan routes guaranteed by the Mongols. 

The Itinerary - Photo: Cat Bauer

Giovanni Loredan and the societas first stopped in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople, in what is now Istanbul. From there they embarked on four galleys bound for Tana, a commercial emporium on the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Don. Tana was the most distant emporium of the entire Venetian colonial system, where both Venetian and Genoese merchants had permanent residences. 

 

Here is a map of where the ancient territory would be in 2025:

 

Map at Geography

From Tana, the next stop was Sarai on the Volga river, a thriving metropolis and capital of the Tatar Khanate of the Golden Horde. From Saraj the merchants headed first to Astrakhan, around 55 miles from the Caspian Sea. They waited there for about 50 days before fording the Volga and traveling to Urgench in Uzbekistan -- now an important UNESCO World Heritage archeological site called Old Urgench in Turkmenistan.

 

Here began the hardest part of the journey. They had to cross the Amu Darya River to reach the Pamir Plateau, known as the Roof of the World, in a range of mountains between Central and South Asia. The Pamir spills over into Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China.

Where our voyagers were now is so utterly complicated that I will direct you to a site called Big Think that will break it down for you:

The “Roof of the World,” in eight simple lines

Somehow the merchants got down out of the mountains and into Ghazni in Afghanistan at the gates of the Sultanate of Delhi.

 

And there in Afghanistan is why Giovanni Loredan should have listened to his mother, Caterina. Because Giovanni Loredan died in Ghazni and never did meet the Sultan. 

 

After several more perilous months, the remaining merchants reached India. 

 

The gifts the Venetians brought pleased the Sultan so much that he rewarded the merchants with the fabulous sum of 200,000 Indian coins. The Venetians invested half the money in pearls. 

 

On the way back to Venice, another merchant, Boldovino Querini lost his life. 

 

The remaining four Venetians made it back to Venice by the end of 1341, having made a substantial return on the initial investment. 

 

In 1350, Alberto de Calle sued the heirs of his deceased son-in-law, Giovanni Loredan, for his share of the profit of his investment. The trial involved Giovanni's three sons and his wife, Filipppa, Alberto's own daughter. The court case took place before the Judges of the Procurator, the magistracy that dealt with testamentary matters and the protection of minors.

The Parchment

 

The ancient parchment recording the 1350 trial has arrived to us in the year 2025 thanks to the determination of scholars and their enlightened supporters who are dedicated to the preservation of human nature. It gives us the opportunity to learn from history instead of repeating it.

Honestly, the story told by that parchment gave me goosebumps. Writing and researching this post has been an in-depth history, geography, and economics lesson. From Palestine to Crimea to Afghanistan and beyond, it seems that similar upheavals are happening in the same regions today.

 

Professor Luca Molà said, "This is by far the most detailed document we have on the activities of Venetian merchants in Asia, ranging from China to India and involving the trade of goods from the whole Eurasian continent. The restoration of the parchment has ensured the survival of an extremely valuable cultural asset."

The parchment illustrates the sophisticated and extensive trade networks that existed in the 14th century, connecting Europe with distant regions like China and India. 

 

The 1350 parchment serves as a powerful reminder that globalization is not a new phenomenon but has deep historical roots. 

1338 From Venice to Delhi. Six Merchants on the Silk Roads runs through May 4, 2025. You will find the 1350 parchment in the Museum of Oriental Art on the top floor of Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art. Museo d'Arte Orientale is home to one of the largest collections in Europe of Japanese art from the Edo period.

 

Go to 1338 Da Venezia a Delhi. Sei mercanti sulle Vie della seta for more information (in Italian). 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

The Wondrous Cabinet of Wonders at Palazzo Grimani in Venice - A Celebration of Art in Nature

George Loudon discusses his astonishing collection with curator Thierry Morel
Photo: Cat Bauer

UPDATE: A Cabinet of Wonders - A Celebration of Art in Nature is a great success, and has been extended until October 5, 2025.

(Venice, Italy) George Loudon has a whimsical soul and an eclectic mind. I had the chance to chat with the Dutch collector about his astonishing assortment of 19th-century life science artifacts while sipping a Select spritz out in the courtyard of Palazzo Grimani on a chilly winter’s day after the press conference for A Cabinet of Wonders - A Celebration of Art in Nature. The retired investment banker loves living in London and has an endearing curiosity about how life works. 

Just when you think all hope is lost and humanity is doomed, you encounter another cluster of creatures of light right here in Venice. George Loudon said he loved being based in London because there were so many things to do. I said I loved being based in Venice because it is a town oozing with art and culture, and everyone who is interesting comes here. “Look where we are right now! Look what you’ve brought with you! How wonderful is that! Thank you so much!”

The George Loudon Collection is unlike anything you've seen before. It's displayed in the majestic piano nobile of Palazzo Grimani like a Darwinian art installation. Handcrafted teaching models -- papier-mâché flowers, taxidermy (there's a two-headed kitten), anatomical specimens, and much more -- are laid out as if they are precious artifacts. It's nature as a work of art.

Venetian Cabinet - courtesy of Galerie Kugel, Paris
Photo: Cat Bauer

And that's only half of the exhibition that awaits you at the top of the palace's monumental staircase. Sharing the space is "Mythical Rooms," a recreation of the "Cabinets of Curiosities" or "Wunderkammer" that flourished in the rooms of gentlemen-turned-curators in the 16th and 17th centuries. The space is brimming with rare antiquities, paintings, bronzes, furnishings, and other assorted masterpieces from private collections, galleries, and institutions.

Only human invention can blend these two distinct collections inside Palazzo Grimani to create a singular show like A Cabinet of Wonders: A Celebration of Art in Nature. The exhibition, curated by crackerjack French art historian Thierry Morel, pays tribute to the art of collecting. And Palazzo Grimani sets the scene with the perfect backdrop.

 

Domus Grimani - Sala della Tribuna inside Palazzo Grimani
Photo: Venetian Heritage

PALAZZO GRIMANI

 

Palazzo Grimani was home to some of the most ardent collectors in history. The palace was acquired by Antonio Grimani (1434-1523) in the late 15th century. Antonio would go on to become the 76th Doge of Venice, and the patriarch of a large and powerful family.

One of his grandsons, Giovanni Grimani (1506-1593), the influential Patriarch of Aquileia, enlarged Palazzo Grimani and created the impressive Sala della Tribuna to display the Grimani family's bountiful collection of antiquities. The palace was a Renaissance gem and a magnet for the world's greatest travelers, thinkers, and diplomats.

 

Palazzo Grimani was the Grimani family home until 1865. As the centuries drifted by and ownership changed hands, the palace slowly slipped into decay. The Italian state acquired the building in 1981 in "deplorable condition." It underwent years of extensive restoration and opened as a public museum in 2008, but there was not much left inside except the phantoms of the past. I wrote a detailed post about it in 2021:

A Brief History of Palazzo Grimani + Domus Grimani & The Room of the Doge

After languishing for years, Palazzo Grimani was brought roaring back to life when Toto Bergamo Rossi, Director of Venetian Heritage, and Daniele Ferrara, Director of the Veneto Regional Directorate for National Museums, curated the stunning Domus Grimani exhibition in 2019. They hauled a load of the original Grimani loot out of the National Archeological Museum in Piazza San Marco and put it back inside Giovanni's Tribuna and the Sala del Doge in Palazzo Grimani where it belonged. 

Palazzo Grimani is now part of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon. The new autonomous institute also includes the National Archaeological Museum of Venice in Piazza San Marco, the Archaeological Park of Altino, and the Archaeological Museum on Lazzaretto Vecchio in the Venice lagoon. The world's first lazaretto, the former quarantine station will transform into the headquarters for the institute, all under the domain of the dynamic new director, Marianna Bressan. 

 

A Cabinet of Wonders - Installation view
Camerino di Callisto - Photo: Cat Bauer

 MYTHOLOGICAL ROOMS

 

A Cabinet of Wonders begins in the Sala di Psiche. It's designed to sweep you back to a Renaissance Wunderkammer with paintings, tapestries, sculptures, furniture, and other goodies typical of what you might have found in the Grimani family home. 

Giovanni Grimani's private apartment was likely comprised of the Camerino di Callisto and the Camerino di Apollo. The Camerino di Callisto is laid out like a Renaissance scholar's study, as though Giovanni had just stepped out of the room. A never-before-exhibited painting, Christ in Glory, by Paolo Veronese hangs over the fireplace. Lush Rubelli fabrics give the room that lived-in Venetian palace feeling. 

A Cabinet of Wonders - Camerino di Apollo - Installation View
Photo: Massimo Listri

Adding to the enchantment, the Camerino di Apollo is decorated with surreal prints by contemporary French artist Erik Desmazières. Weird and wonderful objects like a crocodile stuffed with sawdust are mounted directly onto the prints. It's disorienting and makes you wonder what century you've stumbled into.

 

Two-headed kitten, Preserved by G. F. Bushell, 216 Graham Road, HACKNEY
George Loudon Collection
Photo: Cat Bauer

THE GEORGE LOUDON COLLECTION

The pièce de résistance of the entire experience is George Loudon's extraordinary collection of 19th-century life science objects.

Loudon has been a collector since childhood, inspired by a fascination with carpentry tools. He began collecting seriously in the late 1970s while working in the banking sector, focusing on young contemporary artists. 

 

In 2004, Louden visited Harvard where his daughter's husband was doing his PhD. His daughter took him to see the glass flowers at the Harvard Museum of Natural History. Louden was blown away by the glass flowers created in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Dresden glass artist Leopold Blaschka and his son and apprentice, Rudolf Blaschka.

 

The Blaschkas had a thriving business making glass models of marine invertebrates before they turned to flowers. Harvard was a world center for the study of botany, but dried and pressed specimens were difficult to use as accurate teaching tools. The realistic glass botanical models crafted by the Blaschkas solved the problem. 

 

According to Wikipedia: "Over the course of their collective lives, Leopold and Rudolf crafted as many as ten thousand glass marine invertebrate models and 4,400 botanical models, the most famous being Harvard's Glass Flowers."

 

Pomegranates - George Louden Collection
didactic models attributed to Francesco Garnier Valletti
Late 19th-century - wax, pigments
Photo: Matteo De Fina

That started Louden out on his quest to collect teaching materials crafted by artisans in the 19th century. It took him several years to realize that he was gathering visual 19th-century science, which became the theme of his collection.

 

The hunt is part of the thrill. Louden finds didactic objects in flea markets and junk shops and the storage rooms of university museums. He's got boxes of Italian wax plants and fruit -- deformed lemons and peaches -- which were used at an agricultural college to teach students about imperfections in horticulture.

A Cabinet of Wonders - Installation View
Photo: Massimo Listri

Louden remembers where he found every object, and speaks with affection about each one. There are no labels or descriptions; you must examine each piece and let your imagination wander. The collection is a tribute to the artistry and ingenuity of the creators of the objects. 

It took me some time to realize that I was seeing two separate chapters of the same exhibition. One section of The Cabinet of Wonders flows seamlessly into the other. Curator Thierry Moral sums it up: "These two sections, while distinct, mirror and engage with one another, creating a dialogue that invites reflection on the art and practice of collecting."

A Cabinet of Wonders - Installation View
Photo: Massimo Listri

 

Afterwards, I spoke to Toto Bergamo Rossi, the Director of Venetian Heritage and a mighty force behind much of the movement of art and culture in Venice, especially Palazzo Grimani. I told him I remembered how barren and empty Palazzo Grimani seemed when it first opened as a museum in 2008, and how exciting it was to see it filled with life again. 

"I'm sure you have made Giovanni Grimani very happy," I said.

Toto smiled. "I speak to him every night."

 

A CABINET OF WONDERS. A Celebration of Art in Nature. The George Loudon Collection at Museo di Palazzo Grimani runs through May 11, 2025, and is curated by Thierry Morel. UPDATE: The exhibition has been extended through October 5, 2025.

The exhibition is promoted by the Italian Minister of Culture, the Musei archeologici nazionali di Venezia e della Laguna, Musei Italiani, Venetian Heritage, and the Loudon Collection in collaboration with Scuola Grande Arciconfraternita di San Rocco. The main sponsor is Viking. Go to Venetian Heritage for more information in English. 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Happy New Year! It's Sunshiny & Bright in Venice on the Last Day of 2024

The Accademia Bridge on the Grand Canal
on New Year's Eve Day 2024
Photo: Cat Bauer

"Be at war with your vices, at Peace with your neighbors, and let every New Year find you a better man." 

---Benjamin Franklin

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow."

---Albert Einstein

 

"Onward!"

---Cat Bauer

 

Have a Happy, Hallowed, Healthy, Harmonious New Year!

 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

6 Italian National Museums in Venice that Are Free on the First Sunday of Each Month

Feast in the House of Levi by Paolo Veronese at Gallerie dell'Accademie, Venice
Photo: Cat Bauer

(Venice, Italy) Venice is rich with museums and galleries, both public and private, municipal and state. Some say that the town of Venice itself is like strolling through a museum, with some of the most powerful architecture and monuments on earth dotting the landscape. 

There are 11 Civic Museums that fall under the umbrella of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia (MUVE), a private entity that manages a public heritage whose only founding member is the City of Venice.

Then there are private museums like the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and the Pinault Collection's Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana — always exciting, with dazzling exhibitions of contemporary art. There are foundations like Fondazione Cini and Fondazione Querini Stampalia brimming with treasures. There are priceless works of art in churches and scuole. The Venice Biennale enlivens ancient venues with contemporary art and architecture. Even Venice's local hospital is an architectural masterpiece.

But there is also a handful of museums in the historic center of Venice overseen by the Italian Ministry of Culture, the branch of the State government in charge of national museums. Throughout Italy, these museums are free to the public on the first Sunday of every month.

Figuring out which museums in Venice are operated by the Italian State and where they are located can be challenging. Here's some help:

6 ITALIAN NATIONAL MUSEUMS IN VENICE FREE ON THE FIRST SUNDAY OF EACH MONTH

Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice - Photo: by concession of the Ministry of Culture

1. Gallerie dell'Accademia - Perhaps the best known of all the national museums, the Gallerie dell'Accademia is located right at the foot of the Accademia Bridge on the Dorsodoro side. It's packed with masterpieces of Venetian art up to the 19th century by artists such as Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese. An entire section is devoted to Canova. Leonardo da Vinci's drawing of the Vitruvian Man is here, but rarely on display because it is so fragile. (UPDATE: For those lucky enough to be in Venice from April 4 to July 27, 2025, you can see Leonardo's masterpiece as part of the terrific Corpi Moderni exhibit.) On free Sundays, I have seen the line to enter stretch far down the block, so plan to get there early.

Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca' d'Oro on the Grand Canal - Photo: Cat Bauer

2. Giorgio Franchetti Gallery at the Ca' d'Oro - Ca' d'Oro, or Palazzo Santa Sofia, is an elegant, distinct palace in Cannaregio on the Grand Canal. It's one vaporetto stop past the Rialto Market on the other side of the canal. Ca' d'Oro means "House of Gold." Built in 1428, it is the best surviving example of Venetian Gothic architecture. The last owner, Baron Giorgio Franchetti, bequeathed his considerable art collection along with his palace to the Italian State in 1916. The view of the Grand Canal from the loggia is impressive, and the mosaic floor of the courtyard designed by Franchetti himself is astonishing.

UPDATE: From April 7, 2025, Ca' d'Oro will be closed temporarily for restoration until May 2027. The re-opening will coincide with Biennale Architecture in 2027. But you will still be able to visit the marvelous mosaics designed by Baron Giorgio Franchetti on the ground floor.

Mosaic floor designed by Baron Giorgio Franchetti
Photo: Cat Bauer

 

Piazza San Marco

Marciana Library on right - Photo: Veneto.Info

In St. Mark's Square, things start to get complicated. Both the gilded monumental rooms of the Marciana Library designed by Jacopo Sansovino, and the Archaeological Museum, are national museums under the supervision of the Italian State. Both are located in Piazza San Marco in the enormous structure that faces the Doge's Palace and then turns the corner at the Campanile and becomes the Procuratie Nuove.

To enter both museums, you normally have to go through the Correr Museum far down at the other end of Piazza San Marco in the Napoleonic wing, the structure that faces St. Mark's Basilica. The Correr is a Venetian municipal museum under the umbrella of the Venice Civic Museums (MUVE). It is not part of the Italian Ministry of Culture. It is run by Venice. Therefore, it is not free on the first Sunday of the month.

However, during normal operations, the Marciana Libary and the Archaeological Museum are included in the price of the ticket you pay to enter the Correr Museum because the layout is such that you can walk right through them all of them. But not on the first Sunday of the month!

The Italian Minister of Culture is very clear:

“Domenica al museo”: free admission to the National Archaeological Museum of Venice and Monumental Rooms of Marciana Library (NOT Museo Correr) for everyone on the first Sunday of each month.

If you think Italian bureaucracy is convoluted, just imagine when it’s layered with an extra labyrinth of Venetian bureaucracy.

So, what are you supposed to do? Luckily, the Marciana Library has an impressive separate entrance through which you can also reach the Archaeological Museum. It is normally closed to the public, but open on the first Sunday of each month.

Across from the Doge's Palace, look for two enormous, draped female figures guarding the entrance to an ornate door that says "Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana Libreria Vecchia." There you will climb a monumental staircase with wondrous treasures at the top.

UPDATE: As of May 6, 2025, the historic entrance to the Archaeological Museum at No. 17 Piazzetta San Marco reopens with its own ticketing. It's right across from the Doge's Palace and a few doors down from the entrance to the Marciana. The Agrippa Courtyard around the corner in the Procuratie Nuove will also reopen (see photo below).

Reading room of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana
Photo: Wikipedia

3. Monumental rooms of the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana - One of the earliest public libraries on the planet, the Marciana was founded in 1468 when the humanist scholar Cardinal Bessarion donated his collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts to Venice. However, it took Venice some time to build the library, which was designed by Jacopo Sansovino and constructed between 1537 and 1588.

In addition to paintings by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese, you can marvel at Fra Mauro's original 1450 map of the world. The last will and testament of Marco Polo is here, dated January 9, 1323 M.V. (according to the Venetian calendar). 

When you first enter the vestibule, look up. In the center of the ceiling, you will see one of my favorite paintings, Wisdom by Titian. 

National Archaeological Museum of Venice- Agrippa Courtyard - Photo: Joan Porcel

4. National Archaeological Museum of Venice - Surprisingly, the Ministry of Culture website for the Archaeological Museum is clear and in English, a rarity, so you can read it yourselves. However, the history of the collection is chaotic, with enormous, ancient, heavy statues being shuffled from Rome to Venice and then all over the place. The collection contains ancient Greece and Roman statues, as well as coins, relics, marbles and busts. The Archaeological Museum has put together an excellent timeline.

We'll continue the story of the Archaeological Museum and the ancient sculptures over at Italian museum No. 5, Palazzo Grimani.

Domus Grimani - Sala della Tribuna at Palazzo Grimani - Photo: Venetian Heritage

5. Museo di Palazzo Grimani - In 2021, I spent a consider amount of time trying to unravel the history of the Grimani family and what was going on over at Palazzo Grimani. Where did the sculptures come from in the first place? How did ancient Greek and Roman statues end up in Venice? Who was the very important Grimani family? To me, the clearest answers to those questions are in my post:

A Brief History of Palazzo Grimani + Domus Grimani & The Room of the Doge (+ Georg Baselitz Does Double Duty in Venice)

Let's start with this: the collection was first established in 1523 by Cardinal Domenico Grimani. His father, Antonio (who would go on to become the Doge) bought a plot of land in Rome where he was living in exile. During excavation for the foundations, a number of ancient sculptures were discovered, igniting the Grimanis' passion for collecting fine antiquities. At the end of the 16th century, Giovanni Grimani, Antonio's grandson, donated his collection to the Republic of Venice.

Palazzo Grimani is right off Campo Santa Maria Formosa, about a 10 minute walk from Piazza San Marco. It rewards you with the breathtaking Sala della Tribuna, a room designed specifically to display the Grimani family's antiquities. Make the trip from the Archeological Museum to the palace to get a fuller understanding of the history of the collection, especially because instead of paying €14 to enter, on the first Sunday of the month, it's free.

(UPDATE: You can visit the wondrous Cabinet of Wonders through May 11, 2025.)

 

 

Wood, lacquer & painted ivory Chinese chess set from the 18th century
Photo: by concession of the Ministry of Culture

6. Museum of Oriental Art - Another Italian Ministry of Culture website in English! The Museum of Oriental Art is located on the top floor of Ca' Pesaro, Venice's International Gallery of Modern Art. (That it has such an odd location should no longer surprise us.) This unusual stash from the East is the result of travels taken by Prince Henry of Bourbon-Parma, Count of Bardi, to Asia between 1887 and 1889. Prince Henry was a great-grandson of King Charles X of France. 

The culmination of Prince Henry’s journeys is one of the most important collections in Europe of Japanese art of the Edo period (1603-1868), with additional sections dedicated to China, Indonesia and South-Eastern Asia.

(UPDATE: You can visit the restored parchment from 1350 and learn the fascinating story about the 6 Venetian Merchants on the Silk Road in 1338 - from Venice to Delhi until May 4, 2025.)

Prince Henry had no kids, but did own Palazzo Ca' Vendramin Calergi across the Grand Canal from Ca' Pesaro. It's where Richard Wagner died and where the Venice Casino is located. 

We can only imagine how the Asian art collection of Prince Henry morphed into an Oriental art museum on the other side of the Grand Canal located on the top floor of Venice's modern art museum. But why not?

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

EGYPT. Journey to Immortality - An Intriguing Day Trip from Venice to Conegliano

EGYPT. Journey to Immortality - Photo: Cat Bauer

 

(Venice, Italy) Thought-provoking. That is how I would describe the EGYPT. Journey to Immortality exhibition at Palazzo Sarcinelli in the town of Conegliano. I was fascinated by how focused the ancient Egyptian culture was on preparing for the afterlife. And that provoked many thoughts.

The Field of Aaru, also called the Field of Reeds, was the Egyptian heavenly paradise ruled over by the god Osiris, full of lush fields, waterfalls, and eternal peace. 

As I wandered through the exhibition and absorbed the sacred artifacts, I tried to get myself into the heads of the ancient Egyptians and their mysterious culture. If you truly believed that you had the capacity to become immortal, living in the same paradise as the gods, eating the same food, hunting in the same fields, it would make sense to do everything you could to prepare for the journey to the afterlife. And from what the ancient Egyptians have left behind for us to witness, it is clear they took the voyage to immortality very seriously. 

The Egyptians believed the soul resided in the heart. After death, the deceased had to complete a long and perilous journey through Duat, passing tests to enter through gates and portals guarded by deities. At the end of the voyage, the heart was weighed on a scale balanced by an ostrich feather. Hearts that balanced the scale would be allowed to enter paradise. Hearts that were heavy with evil would tumble off the scale and into the jaws of Ammit, a fearful female demon. 

EGITTO. Viaggio Verso L'Immortalità gives the public an opportunity to explore the history and spirituality of this mystifying culture.  There are over 100 artifacts, including sarcophagi, mummies, statues, amulets, and objects of everyday life. 

Eyes for a funerary Mask (664-332 BCE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

I saw many ancient artifacts that I didn't understand. I had many questions that weren't answered. So I decided that I would experiment with Gemini AI, and ask it a bunch of questions. Here's how that went.

Gemini, are the souls of the ancient Egyptians tied to the earth?

That's a fascinating question. While the ancient Egyptians believed that the soul needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife, they didn't necessarily believe that the soul was tied to the Earth in the same way we might think of a ghost being tied to a specific location.

Here's a breakdown of their beliefs:

• Afterlife: The Egyptians believed that after death, the soul would embark on a journey to the afterlife. This afterlife was a spiritual realm, not a physical place on Earth.
  
  
• Judgment: The soul would be judged by the gods to determine its fate in the afterlife. If the soul was deemed worthy, it would be allowed to enter the Field of Reeds, a paradise-like place.
  
  
• Eternal Existence: The soul was believed to exist eternally, even after leaving the body. However, its experiences and quality of life in the afterlife depended on its actions and behavior during life.

While the soul might need a physical body to exist in the afterlife, it wasn't necessarily tied to a specific location on Earth. The Egyptians believed that the soul could move freely and experience the afterlife without being confined to a particular place.

Thank you, Gemini, but I am still not clear. The body is mummified and stationary. It is wrapped in linen and placed inside a sarcophagus. The soul is free and wandering around. Why was the body mummified? Does the mummy come back to life?

That's a great point! The Egyptians didn't believe that the mummy would come back to life in the physical sense. The mummification process wasn't intended to resurrect the body.

Instead, they believed that the soul would use the preserved body as a kind of "spiritual vehicle" in the afterlife. It was like a spiritual body that the soul could inhabit and use to interact with the spiritual world.

Think of it like a car. The car itself doesn't move, but it's a vehicle that allows someone to travel. In the same way, the mummified body was a vehicle that allowed the soul to "travel" and experience the afterlife.

So, while the body was immobile, it was still considered essential for the soul's existence and activities in the spiritual realm.

So, the body was like a home?

Exactly. The ancient Egyptians believed that the body was like a home for the soul, providing a place for it to reside and interact with the spiritual world. It was a crucial part of their understanding of the afterlife and their beliefs about the soul's journey.

OK. But I still don’t quite get it. You die. You have a soul. But why do you need the body? Can you please delve deeper?

That's a great question! The ancient Egyptians had a unique belief about the afterlife that might seem different from our modern understanding.

They believed that the soul, or "ka," needed a physical body to exist in the afterlife. This body wasn't just for appearances; it was thought to be essential for the soul's activities and interactions in the spiritual realm.

Here are a few reasons why they believed the physical body was so important:

• A Home for the Soul: The body was seen as a kind of vessel or home for the soul. Without it, the soul might wander aimlessly or be unable to perform certain tasks.
  
  
• Interaction with the Afterlife: The Egyptians believed that the soul needed a physical body to interact with the gods, ancestors, and other beings in the afterlife. It was like having a physical form to communicate and participate in the spiritual world.
  
  
• Preservation of Identity: The body was seen as a unique identifier of the individual. It was believed that the soul would recognize its body in the afterlife, helping to maintain a sense of identity and continuity.

While this belief might seem strange to us today, it was a central part of ancient Egyptian culture and religion. It helps us understand why they went to such great lengths to preserve their bodies through mummification.

Mummy of a Baby with Sarcophagus (1st-2nd century CE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

I then said adieu to Gemini, which is renowned for its inaccuracies, and consulted the PBS.org site NOVA: 

"The ancient Egyptians believed that a person's Ka (vital force) and Ba (personality) left the body at the time of death. But they also believed that Ka and Ba could be lured back if an idealized re-creation of the body was offered. This re-unification of body and spirit was the ticket to the nether world....

Egyptians stopped making mummies beteen the fourth and seventh century AD, when many Egyptians became Christian. But it's estimated that, over a 3000-year period, more than 70 million mummies were made in Egypt."

Canopic Chest (1550-664 BCE)
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

That is a very brief overview. EGYPT. Journey to Immortality has got some fascinating artifacts, and is an excellent introduction to the spirituality of ancient Egypt. But, to me, it did not provide enough detail and explanation of what we are witnessing. The ancient Egyptians left us so many astonishing physical realities about their version of the Afterlife to ponder. After all, there is a pyramid on the back of the U.S. dollar bill!

If you are thinking of taking a day trip to Conegliano to visit the exhibition, I would suggest first playing some Egyptian kid games on the British Museum website, a fun and easy introduction to the culture, so that you will better appreciate the precious objects you are seeing in real life. Thankfully, the descriptions of the actual artifacts inside the museum are in both English and Italian.

I was curious as to how an Egyptian exhibition with actual mummies and ancient artifacts had made its way to Conegliano. It turns out that the curator, Egyptologist Maria Cristina Guidotti, was the former head of the Egyptian section of the National Archaeological Museum of Florence. 

The Florence collection is second in Italy only to the Egyptian Museum of Turin. It was mainly formed during the 19th century thanks to Grand Duke Leopoldo II of Tuscany, who, together with King Charles X of France, financed an expedition to Egypt in 1828. They split the loot between Paris and Florence. 

Amulets in the Shape of the Wdjat Eye
Museo Arcaologico Nazionale di Firenze

It's simple to get to Palazzo Sarcinelli in Conegliano from Venice, about an hour by train. When you arrive, walk outside the front of the station. Cross the street, staying to the right. Head toward the great stone staircase. At the top, turn right, walking under the promenade until you arrive at Palazzo Sarcinelli. The museum is less than 10 minutes from the station. 

EGYPT. Journey to Immortality runs until April 6, 2025, and has funky, old-fashioned Italian hours with lunch figured in. From Wednesday to Friday, it's open from 10am to 1pm, and then from 2pm to 7pm. On Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays it runs from 10am to 7pm. 

Go to the Visit Conegliano website to make a day of it, and plan your adventure away from the crowds of Venice. 

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog

Imagine! Never-Before-Seen-Footage of John Lennon -- "One to One: John & Yoko" - Venice Film Festival World Premiere

One to One: John & Yoko - Directed by Kevin Macdonald

(Venice, Italy) I am always amazed at how many people's lives John Lennon impacted, mine included. His talent, courage, and raw honesty made such an impression on me when I was coming of age in the 1970s that he influenced my entire life and career. John Lennon is one of those rare human beings who has morphed into a myth.

My first novel, Harley, Life a Person, is about a 14-year-old artist living in the New Jersey suburbs who thinks she's adopted. She has three goals: to find her real father, get to the Imagine Circle in Central Park, and to finish her painting for her high school play. Harley was born on the anniversary of John Lennon's death, in the same hospital, when her mother went into labor at a Lennon memorial concert in New York City. 

Harley's Ninth continues the story. It takes place all on one day, October 9th, the day John Lennon was born. Harley has her first art exhibition opening in a gallery in New York City. Harley's Ninth includes a fictionalized version of an actual art exhibition in New York City that I went to presented by Yoko Ono in 2004 to celebrate what would have been Lennon's 64th birthday.

From the One to One concert in New York City in 1972 - Photo: John Skelson

Now, the Scottish filmaker Kevin Macdonald has made a spectacular documentary about the first 18 months that John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in Greenwich Village in the 1970s. The film culminates on August 30, 1972 when John Lennon performed in the One to One Benefit Concert, his only full-lenth show after leaving the Beatles. The film premiered at this year’s Venice Film Festival on August 30, 2024, exactly fifty-two years ago.

Kevin Macdonald is more than a decade younger than me. While I was growing up in New Jersey about 45 minutes outside of Manhattan, he was growing up in Scotland. When asked what drew him to make One to One, he said, "I had been, and continue to be, a big Lennon fan. ... I got into the Beatles very young, when I was ten or eleven. I must have heard them on the radio. I asked my parents for a Beatles record for my birthday... I listened to them obsessively and became a fan. And when Lennon was shot in 1980, it was the first star I felt a personal connection with who died in that way. I actually felt it."

By the time John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, I was living in New York City. By coincidence, my apartment on West 11th Street was right around the corner of their first tiny apartment on Bank Street. 

I, along with the rest of Manhattan, actually felt it, too: 

Remembering John Lennon on the 40th Anniversary of his Death

Imagine Circle in Central Park, NYC

What is genius about the film is the innovative format used by Macdonald and co-director & editor Sam Rice-Edwards: rapid clips of TV shows and commercials of that moment in time in the United States, from the Vietnam War to The Price is Right game show to ads for Coca-Cola. And they sprinkle never-before-seen-or-heard before recordings from the Lennon Estate throughout the film -- as if someone was flipping through channels on a television while talking on the phone. 

It is not only a film about John Lennon and Yoko Ono. It is a riveting history lesson that brings all the turmoil and innocence of the 70s alive. 

Recreation of John & Yoko's tiny one-room apartment on Bank Street - Photo: Mercury Studios

In 1971, Yoko convinced John to leave their estate in England and move to a tiny one-room apartment in on Bank Street in Greenwich Village, where they lived before moving uptown into grander digs in the Dakota on the Upper West Side. 

 

At the foot of the bed was a large TV set that they watched obsessively, which becomes a character in the story. One day, they watched an exposé by Geraldo Rivera about the horrific conditions in the Willowbrook children's home, which was the impetus for the One to One Concert at Madison Square Garden on August 30, 1972.

Kevin Macdonald's wife, Tatiana, is an Oscar-nominated set decorator who recreated the apartment exactly as it would have been when John and Yoko lived there, down to the quilt on the bed. The apartment is the only element of the film that wasn't created by the film and audio recordings of John and Yoko themselves. Both John and Yoko had their own cameras, or they had other people filming, and they recorded much of their lives. 

John Lennon’s move to New York City was like the arrival of a hurricane. He soon became involved in anti-war and protest movements. He associated with radicals like the Black Panthers and Jerry Rubin and Allen Ginsberg, who delivers a poem about toilet paper in the film that not even his estate knew existed.

John and Yoko suspected that their phone was being tapped (it was), so they started recording their phone calls. Six months into the project, Kevin Macdonald was sent a bunch of recordings of those phone calls. They were old-fashioned tapes from the 1970s that had been sitting in a box somewhere. Sean and Yoko had never even heard them before because they had never been digitized. Some of them are hilarious, like the ongoing quest of trying to find thousands of flies for an art project that Yoko was working on.

The most chilling part of the phone calls was when Jim Keltner, the renowned drummer from Elephant's Memory, the band who backed-up Lennon at the One to One concert asks: "You're not frightened that this might lead to an assassination?" And John says, "Don't worry. I don't aim to get shot. I'm an artist. I'm not a politician."

What is especially haunting on a personal level is that Jim Keltner was my neighbor in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles. In fact, his wife, Cynthia Keltner, is in the acknowledgments of Harley, Like a Person because she was an early reader and helped me get the tone right. Jim has a recording studio in his back yard, and the Beatles and John Lennon would drop by. I was stunned to hear Jim ask that question...

Sean Ono Lennon is the music producer -- and it's great. I just loved the entire film. I wish I could tell you when you can see it, but right now it's still only being shown at film festivals.

Kevin Macdonald at One to One: John & Yoko premiere
Venice Film Festival, August 30, 2024
Photo: Cat Bauer

One to One: John & Yoko premiered on August 30, 2024 at the Venice Film Festival on the 52nd anniversary of the original concert. Whenever and wherever you get the chance to watch it, no matter how old or young you are, make every effort to see it.

Ciao from Venezia,

Cat Bauer

Venetian Cat - The Venice Blog