Venice, 5th July 2021 – Until September 19th the exhibition “Francesco Morosini: la difesa di Venezia tra mare e terra a Creta e nel Peloponneso” displayed at the Museo Nazionale Atestino di Este, will be open. The exhibition was organized for the celebrations of the 1600 years of Venice. Francesco Morosini, considered as one of the most important and relevant figures of the history of the Repubblica - and perhaps the last great venetian captain - is the main character of the exhibition displayed within the Sala delle colonne.
The Stato da Mar (State of the sea), the venetian territories of the east, located along the Adriatic and Mediterranean shores, are the places in which the presence of Venice dates back to the Middle Ages. It is a State that owned very specific characteristics: it did not have any territorial cohesion and it was made up by cities, harbours, and fortresses only connected by sea routes which went through the eastern shore of the Adriatic and reached the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean by passing through the Ionian Islands, Greece, the Morea (Peloponnese), and the Island of Crete. Through centuries, the geography of the Stato da Mar changed continuously. It particularly changed between the 1400s and the 1500s, as a consequence to the war with the Ottomans, the loss of some territories and acquisition of others by the Venetian Republic. Almost every coastal city of the Morea fell by 1500 whilst the Candia Island remained under the Venetian control for more than 400 years, until 1669. The changes in government of these lands left clear traces within the history of these cities: on their aspect, urban planning and on their defence plans. The exhibition – which has already been shown at the Torre Civica in Mestre – aims at returning the original aspects of some cities and fortresses located in Crete and the Peloponnese at the time when Francesco Morosini lived. This aim will be achieved by providing original images and documents that date back to his era.
Realized with the special partnership of the Mayor of Este, the exhibition allows visitors to admire and celebrate 48 astonishing artworks completed between the end of the 1600s and the beginning of the following century, to celebrate the military undertakings of Morosini in the east. Moreover, weapons, artifacts, Turkish signs, a rare Ottoman cannon, some musical instruments of the janissary band (soldiers of the sultan’s private army in the Ottoman Empire), books, military maps, and historical administrative and military documents will be included within the exhibition.
Opening timetables: Tuesday to Saturday: 8.30 – 13.30 and 14.30 – 19.30. On Sundays: 14.30 – 19.30. Monday closed.
To know more: http://www.atestino.beniculturali.it