Librorum: The Venice State Archive
Keeping documents above water in a former Franciscan monastery
This is the canal entrance to the Venice State Archive in the San Polo district of Venice. The main entrance for pedestrians is in Campo dei Frari, just in front of the Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (a church that can boast being the largest in Venice with a bell tower second only in height to Saint Mark’s Campanile).
The Venice State Archive was first established in 1815 as the General Archive in an old Franciscan monastery (which still serves as its main headquarters today). The original Franciscan monastery was founded in the 13th century when, under Doge Jacopo Tiepolo, the city of Venice donated the land to the Franciscan Order of Friars Minor to establish a monastery and church. Construction of the monastery and church began, according to urban legend, at the behest of Saint Francis himself.
By the end of the 15th century, the monastery complex was comprised of quite a large group of buildings built around two adjacent cloisters that abutted the Franciscan Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari. (Its footprint has remained largely unchanged to this day.)
In 1810, Napoleon effectively suppressed and shuttered religious institutions in the region, dissolving the Order of Friars Minor at this location, and the monastery has been used as an Archive ever since.
The Venice State Archive houses over 80 km of shelving and well over 800 different archival collections, including nearly all of the government documents produced by the Republic of Venice over the course of a millennium. It contains most of the documents produced by the Republic after the city fire of 976 C.E., as well as a few isolated documents from before that time. It also houses archival materials from churches and monasteries, private families, charitable organizations, and professional associations and guilds, as well as materials from the French and Austrian periods (which range in date from 1797-1866) and those produced after 1866 by Italian State offices located in Venice. Because of Venice’s unique position in the Mediterranean and its role in the area, the Venice State Archive is home to one of the most important collections of materials on the early history of the Balkans. The Archive also boasts a library of over 78,000 volumes.
Today the Venice State Archive houses all of its materials on the second floor because of the potential for flooding on the first floor. There is no temperature and humidity control and, although this has not caused many problems in the past, there is growing concern about climate change and the longer periods of hot weather that are becoming the norm. Extended periods of warmth and humidity make an excellent recipe for mold.
There is a large and spacious Reading Room located in the monastery’s old refectory which can accommodate up to 72 researchers and readers. The Reading Room is open to adults over the age of 18, both Italian and foreign. Up to three archival documents may be requested per person per day. Requested materials are usually available with an hour or so.
The Venice State Archive is a gem of a resource, tucked away nearly unnoticed next to an impressive basilica, and so full of materials that might pique curiosity that it positively makes a person drool…
