The historical core of the museum is represented by the Public Statues of the Serenissima completed in 1596 in the arrangement by Federico Contarini in the Antechamber of the Marciana Library, and consisting of collections of ancient objects derived from the bequest of Domenico Grimani and the donation of Giovanni Grimani.
Over the following centuries, the Statues were enriched by further donations. In the 1920s, the collections were arranged on the first floor of the Procuratie Nuove, still the museum’s location, and then expanded between 1949 and 1954 thanks to the Correr deposit and the assignment to Venice of ceramics, glass, and gems from the San Donato Museum of Zara.
The recent Ligabue donation of pre-protostoric bronzes and other objects found in the Veneto territory have further enriched the Museum’s heritage, which today is part of the Marcian Route, also including the Correr Museum and the monumental rooms of the Marciana Library. Until 5:00 PM (summer) and 7:00 PM (winter) the entrance is through the Correr Museum – Napoleonic Wing
