Museo Correr
One nobleman's lifelong rescue mission — buying back Venice's history as the Republic collapsed around him.
Coming soon on iOS — be first to walk Venice offline.
When the Republic of Venice fell in 1797, French and Austrian rulers took over and Venetian families sold their collections. Teodoro Correr spent decades buying everything he could, then left it all — art, documents, objects — to the city in 1830. The museum opened in 1836 on the upper floors of the Procuratorie Nuove, running the full south side of St. Mark's Square.
What to look for
- The Procuratorie Nuove rooms — you are walking the upper floors of the building that closes off the south arcade of St. Mark's Square
- The original Correr bequest: a mix of artworks, documents, and individual objects all tied to Venetian history
- Later layers — subsequent bequests, donations, and acquisitions added on top of the founding collection
One of 11 civic museums under Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
Museo Correr is one of 38 sights worth the detour in Venice, all bundled offline in Voyage GO — download the Venice pack and it sits on your map with no signal, filling your travel passport the moment you walk past.
More to see in Venice
- St Mark's BasilicaThe Doge's private chapel turned war-trophy hall — every marble slab and bronze horse was taken from somewhere else.
- Doge's PalaceGovernment offices, a jail, and the Doge's private rooms — all under one Venetian Gothic roof on the lagoon edge.
- Grand CanalVenice's main street is water — a 3.8 km reverse-S where noble families spent fortunes trying to outshine each other in stone and marble.
- Piazza San MarcoNapoleon called it "the drawing room of Europe" — then stripped it of its four horses and shipped them to Paris.
- Rialto BridgePredicted to collapse before it opened, this single-span stone arch has carried Venice's Grand Canal traffic since 1591.
- Bridge of SighsLord Byron named it in the 19th century — condemned men crossing in 1600 took their last look at Venice through stone-barred windows before the cells closed behind them.