Murano
Encyclopedia
Island
An island or isle is any piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, cays or keys. An island in a river or lake may be called an eyot , or holm...
s linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon
Venetian Lagoon
The Venetian Lagoon is the enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Venetian language, Laguna Veneta— cognate of Latin lacus, "lake"— has provided the international name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of saltwater, a lagoon.The Venetian Lagoon...
, northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about 1.5 km (0.93205910497471 mi) across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking
Lampworking
Lampworking is a type of glasswork that uses a gas fueled torch to melt rods and tubes of clear and colored glass. Once in a molten state, the glass is formed by blowing and shaping with tools and hand movements. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer...
. It was once an independent comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
, but is now a frazione
Frazione
A frazione , in Italy, is the name given in administrative law to a type of territorial subdivision of a comune; for other administrative divisions, see municipio, circoscrizione, quartiere...
of the comune of Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
History
Murano was settled by the RomansAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, then from the sixth century by people from Altinum
Altinum
260px|thumb|Remains of the Roman [[decumanus]].Altinum is the name of an ancient coastal town of the Veneti 15 km SE of the modern Treviso, northern Italy, on the edge of the lagoons...
and Oderzo
Oderzo
Oderzo is a town and comune in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy.It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about 66 km to the northeast of Venice...
. At first, the island prospered as a fishing port and through production of salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
. It was also a centre for trade, through the port it controlled on Sant'Erasmo
Sant'Erasmo
Sant'Erasmo is an island in the Venetian Lagoon lying north of the Lido and north east of Venice, Italy.The island was a port attached to Murano in the 8th century, but is now known for market gardening. Ruined fortifications, including the so-called Torre Massimiliana , ring the isle. Forts...
. From the eleventh century, it began to decline as islanders moved to Dorsoduro
Dorsoduro
Dorsoduro is one of the six sestieri of Venice, northern Italy.Dorsoduro includes the highest land areas of the city and also Giudecca island and Isola Sacca Fisola...
. It had a Grand Council, like that of Venice, but from the thirteenth century Murano was ultimately governed by a podestà
Podestà
Podestà is the name given to certain high officials in many Italian cities, since the later Middle Ages, mainly as Chief magistrate of a city state , but also as a local administrator, the representative of the Emperor.The term derives from the Latin word potestas, meaning power...
from Venice. Unlike the other islands in the Lagoon
Lagoon
A lagoon is a body of shallow sea water or brackish water separated from the sea by some form of barrier. The EU's habitat directive defines lagoons as "expanses of shallow coastal salt water, of varying salinity or water volume, wholly or partially separated from the sea by sand banks or shingle,...
, Murano minted its own coins.
Early in the second millenium, hermits of the Camaldolese Order occupied one of the islands, seeking a place of solitude for their way of life. There they founded the Monastery of St. Michael
Monastery of St. Michael (Murano)
The Monastery of St. Michael was founded early in the second millenium by hermits of the Camaldolese Order on the island of Murano, located in the Venetian Lagoon. They were drawn to this location due to its remoteness and potential for the solitude they sought...
. This monastery became a great center of learning and printing. The famous cartographer, Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro
Fra Mauro, O.S.B. Cam., was a 15th-century Camaldolese monk who lived in the Republic of Venice. He was a monk of the Monastery of St. Michael, located on the island of Murano in the Venetian Lagoon. It was there that he maintained a cartography workshop.In his youth, Mauro had traveled...
, whose maps were so crucial to European exploration of the world was a monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
of this community. The monastery was suppressed
Suppression of Monasteries
The suppression of monasteries were when monastic foundations were abolished and their possessions were appropriated by the state.-The Reformation:...
in 1810 by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
forces under Napoleon in the course of their conquest of the Italian peninsula
Italian Peninsula
The Italian Peninsula or Apennine Peninsula is one of the three large peninsulas of Southern Europe , spanning from the Po Valley in the north to the central Mediterranean Sea in the south. The peninsula's shape gives it the nickname Lo Stivale...
, and the monk
Monk
A monk is a person who practices religious asceticism, living either alone or with any number of monks, while always maintaining some degree of physical separation from those not sharing the same purpose...
s finally expelled in 1814. The grounds then became Venice's major cemetery.
In 1291, all the glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
makers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. In the following century, export
Export
The term export is derived from the conceptual meaning as to ship the goods and services out of the port of a country. The seller of such goods and services is referred to as an "exporter" who is based in the country of export whereas the overseas based buyer is referred to as an "importer"...
s began, and the island became famous, initially for glass bead
Glass beadmaking
The technology for glass beadmaking is among the oldest human arts, dating back 3,000 years . Glass beads have been dated back to at least Roman times...
s and mirror
Mirror
A mirror is an object that reflects light or sound in a way that preserves much of its original quality prior to its contact with the mirror. Some mirrors also filter out some wavelengths, while preserving other wavelengths in the reflection...
s. Aventurine glass was invented on the island, and for a while Murano was the main producer of glass in Europe. The island later became known for chandelier
Chandelier
A chandelier is a branched decorative ceiling-mounted light fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Chandeliers are often ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass or crystal prisms to illuminate a room with refracted light...
s. Although decline set in during the eighteenth century, glassmaking is still the island's main industry.
In the fifteenth century, the island became popular as a resort
Resort
A resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
for Venetians, and palace
Palace
A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word itself is derived from the Latin name Palātium, for Palatine Hill, one of the seven hills in Rome. In many parts of Europe, the...
s were built, but this later declined. The countryside of the island was known for its orchard
Orchard
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of large gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive...
s and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
gardens until the nineteenth century, when more housing was built.
Attractions on the island include the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato
Church of Santa Maria e San Donato
The Church of Santa Maria e San Donato is a religious edifice located in Murano, northern Italy. It is known for its twelfth century Byzantine mosaic pavement and is said to contain the relics of Saint Donatus of Arezzo as well as large bones behind the altar said to be the bones of a dragon slain...
(known for its twelfth century Byzantine
Byzantine architecture
Byzantine architecture is the architecture of the Byzantine Empire. The empire gradually emerged as a distinct artistic and cultural entity from what is today referred to as the Roman Empire after AD 330, when the Roman Emperor Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire east from Rome to...
mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
pavement and said to house the bones of the dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
slain by Saint Donatus
Donatus of Arezzo
Saint Donatus of Arezzo is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city.A Passio of Donatus' life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus; it is of questionable historicity. He calls Donatus a martyr, though Donatus is described as a bishop and confessor of the faith in...
), the church of San Pietro Martire with the chapel of the Ballarin family built in 1506 and artworks by Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini
Giovanni Bellini was an Italian Renaissance painter, probably the best known of the Bellini family of Venetian painters. His father was Jacopo Bellini, his brother was Gentile Bellini, and his brother-in-law was Andrea Mantegna. He is considered to have revolutionized Venetian painting, moving it...
, and the Palazzo da Mula. Glass-related attractions include the many glassworks, some Mediaeval and most open to the public, and the Glass Museum
Glass Museum
The Glass Museum may be:* Broadfield House Glass Museum, West Midlands, England* Imperial Glass Museum, Bellaire, Ohio, USA* Murano Glass Museum, Venice, Italy* National Heisey Glass Museum, Newark, Ohio, USA* Ohio Glass Museum, Lancaster, Ohio, USA...
, housed in the large Palazzo Giustinian
Palazzo Giustinian
The Palazzo Giustinian is a palace in Venice, northern Italy, situated in the Dorsoduro district and overlooking the Grand Canal next to Ca' Foscari. It is among the best examples of the late Venetian Gothic. The home was the final residence of Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France.The edifice...
.
History of Murano glassmaking
Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and the destruction of the city’s mostly wooden buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still associated with Venetian glassVenetian glass
Venetian glass is a type of glass object made in Venice, Italy, primarily on the island of Murano. It is world-renowned for being colourful, elaborate, and skillfully made....
.
Murano's glassmakers were soon numbered among the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glassmakers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state, and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. While benefiting from certain statutory privileges, glassmakers were forbidden to leave the Republic. However, many of them took the risks associated with migration and established glass furnaces in surrounding cities and farther afield - sometimes in England and the Netherlands.
Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on high-quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass
Glass
Glass is an amorphous solid material. Glasses are typically brittle and optically transparent.The most familiar type of glass, used for centuries in windows and drinking vessels, is soda-lime glass, composed of about 75% silica plus Na2O, CaO, and several minor additives...
, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori
Millefiori
Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware.The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" and "fiori" . Apsley Pellatt was the first to use the term "millefiori", which appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849...
), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano still employ these centuries-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelry to Murano glass
Murano glass
Murano glass is a famous product of the Venetian island of Murano. Located off the shore of Venice, Italy, Murano has been a commercial port as far back as the 7th century. By the 10th century, the city had become well known for its glassmakers, who created unique Murano glass...
chandeliers and wine stoppers.
Today, Murano is home to the Museo Vetrario or Glass Museum in the Palazzo Giustinian, which holds displays on the history of glassmaking as well as glass samples ranging from Egyptian times through the present day.
Some of the companies that own historical glass factories in Murano are among the most important brands of glass in the world. These companies include Venini, Barovier & Toso
Barovier & Toso
Barovier & Toso is an Italian company that specializes in Venetian glass.The company is one of the oldest family businesses in the world, founded in 1295 as simply Barovier....
, Simone Cenedese and Seguso.
The oldest Murano glass factory that is still active today is that of Pauly & C. – Compagnia Venezia Murano
Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano
Pauly & C. - Compagnia Venezia Murano is a Venetian company that produces glass art, most notably Roman murrine, mosaics and chandeliers.The company was formed in 1919 by a merger of Pauly & C and the Compagnia di Venezia e Murano...
, founded in 1866.
Official government protection of Murano glassmaking
As part of a broader view of protection and enhancement of typical and traditional Veneto product manufacturing and marketing, the Veneto Region protects and promotes the designation of origin of artistic glassworks created on the island of Murano, since glasswork is an inherent part of Venetian historical and cultural heritage.The "Vetro Artistico Murano" trademark, filed and registered at the European Office for Harmonisation in Alicante, no. 00481812, has been established and is regulated by Regional Law no. 70, 1994.
See also
- Murano BeadsMurano beadsMurano beads are intricate glass beads influenced by Venetian glass artists.Since 1291, the Murano glassmakers have refined technologies such as crystalline glass, enamelled glass , glass with threads of gold , multicoloured glass , milk glass and imitation gemstones made of glass producing beads...
- Murano glassMurano glassMurano glass is a famous product of the Venetian island of Murano. Located off the shore of Venice, Italy, Murano has been a commercial port as far back as the 7th century. By the 10th century, the city had become well known for its glassmakers, who created unique Murano glass...
- Venetian glassVenetian glassVenetian glass is a type of glass object made in Venice, Italy, primarily on the island of Murano. It is world-renowned for being colourful, elaborate, and skillfully made....
- Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro (Experimental Station for Glass)Stazione Sperimentale del VetroThe Stazione Sperimentale del Vetro is a special Agency of the Chamber of Commerce in Venice.It is an Institute for applied research, established in 1956 in a site in Venice - Murano, provided by the Venetian Municipality, and operating on a national scale with the specific aim of promoting the...