Italian
Murano tells its mastery through works that combine technique, light, and innovation
From December 12, 2025, the Murano Glass Museum will be enriched with a new exhibition space dedicated to one of the most complex and fascinating chapters of its history: the glass production of the 19th century, an era marked first by a profound crisis and then by an impressive rebirth that brought the island back to the heights of world art.
The new permanent section, set up in the spaces of the former Conterie, is part of the enhancement and reorganization project of the museum path carried out by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, which will be completed in 2026. The path is curated by director Chiara Squarcina, with the collaboration of Mauro Stocco, and presents to the public hundreds of nineteenth-century objects, many of which have never been exhibited before.
A century between decline and rebirth
The objects tell the troubled fate of Murano glassmaking in the 19th century, marked by the devastating impact of the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797. The economic crisis that followed hit the entire craft sector hard: the artistic production of glass nearly disappeared, aided by the growing preference of the European market for Bohemian and English glass.
The first signs of recovery only arrived in the middle of the century, when some visionary masters and entrepreneurs initiated a process of reclaiming traditional techniques and rarer materials. The revival began with a return to Renaissance filigree, revitalized by Domenico Bussolin in 1838 and shortly thereafter by Pietro Bigaglia, of whom the exhibition presents precious examples of “granite” glass. He is also credited with a generous donation of artifacts to the museum in 1861, the year of its foundation.
Next to them, Lorenzo Radi brought back to life the colored pastes with gold leaf for mosaics and perfected chalcedony glass in 1856. The creative fervor also led to the founding, in 1854, of Fratelli Toso, destined to mark the history of Murano glass, and to the Venetian establishment of lawyer Antonio Salviati, who opened a blown glass furnace in 1866, contributing to the definitive revival of Murano art.
Masterpieces that inspire new generations
As director Chiara Squarcina emphasizes, the extraordinary Renaissance and Baroque glassworks already present in museum collections were a fundamental source of inspiration for 19th-century artists, who were able to reinterpret the models of the past, making them contemporary with new polychrome and refined decorations.
The new setup also explores the return to ancient Roman and pre-Roman models: a tribute to the forms and techniques of classicism, which in the nineteenth century enjoyed great success mainly due to the production of glass mosaics and murrine, associated with the name of Vincenzo Moretti.
A unique collection in the world
The nineteenth-century section of the Glass Museum is the richest and most complete in the world and today, for the first time, it is displayed in its almost entirety. The result is a clear and engaging narrative that allows the visitor to retrace a century of experiments, falls, and rebirths that have contributed to shaping the artistic identity of Murano.
