Murano

Information about Murano

This article is about geographic location in Italy. For Nissan SUV, see Nissan Murano.
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Murano in the Venetian Lagoon


Murano is usually described as an island in the Venetian Lagoon, although like Venice itself it is actually an archipelago of islands linked by bridges. It lies about a mile north of Venice and is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking.
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View from a bridge on Murano, overlooking the Canal Grande di Murano
Murano was settled by the Romans, then from the sixth century by people from Altino and Oderzo. At first, the island prospered as a fishing port and through production of salt. It was also a centre for trade, through the port it controlled on Sant'Erasmo. From the eleventh century, it began to decline as islanders moved to Dorsoduro. It had a Grand Council, like that of Venice, but from the thirteenth century Murano was ultimately governed by a podestà from Venice. Unlike the other islands in the Lagoon, Murano minted its own coins.
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Glass from Murano
In 1291, all the glassmakers in Venice were forced to move to Murano due to the risk of fires. In the following century, exports began, and the island became famous, initially for glass beads and mirrors. 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 chandeliers. Although decline set in during the eighteenth century, glassmaking is still the island's main industry.
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Santa Maria e San Donato, Murano
In the fifteenth century, the island became popular as a resort for Venetians, and palaces were built, but this later declined. The countryside of the island was known for its orchards and vegetable gardens until the nineteenth century, when more housing was built.

Attractions on the island include the Church of Santa Maria e San Donato, known for its twelfth century Byzantine mosaic pavement and said to house the bones of the dragon slain by Saint Donatus, the Church of San Pietro Martire with his splendid chapel of the Ballarin family build in 1503 and the Palazzo da Mula. Glass-related attractions include the many glassworks, some Mediaeval and most open to the public, and the Glass Museum, housed in the large Palazzo Giustinian.

History of Murano glassmaking

Murano’s reputation as a center for glassmaking was born when the Venetian Republic, fearing fire and destruction to the city’s mostly wood buildings, ordered glassmakers to move their foundries to Murano in 1291. Murano glass is still interwoven with Venetian glass.

Murano's glassmakers were soon the island’s most prominent citizens. By the 14th century, glass makers were allowed to wear swords, enjoyed immunity from prosecution by the Venetian state and found their daughters married into Venice’s most affluent families. Of course there was a catch: glassmakers weren't allowed to leave the Republic. However, many craftsmen took this risk and set up glass furnaces in surrounding cities and as far afield as England and the Netherlands.

Murano’s glassmakers held a monopoly on quality glassmaking for centuries, developing or refining many technologies including crystalline glass, enameled glass (smalto), glass with threads of gold (aventurine), multicolored glass (millefiori), milk glass (lattimo), and imitation gemstones made of glass. Today, the artisans of Murano are still employing these century-old techniques, crafting everything from contemporary art glass and glass jewelry to 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.

See also

External links

Coordinates:
Nissan Murano is a luxury mid-size crossover SUV manufactured by Nissan since the 2003 model year. Known as the "Maxima of SUVs", it slotted above the Pathfinder as Nissan's top-of-the-line SUV until the launch of the Armada in 2004.
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island (IPA: /aɪ.lɪnd/) or isle (IPA: /aɪ.ʌl
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The Venetian Lagoon is a lagoon of the Adriatic Sea in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Venetian language has provided the international name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of saltwater.
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Country Italy
Region Veneto
Province Venice (VE)
Mayor Massimo Cacciari (since April 18 2005)

Area km
Population
 - Total (as of January 1 2004)
 - Density /km
Time zone
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archipelago is a chain or cluster of islands. The word archipelago literally means "chief sea", from Greek arkhon (arkhi-) ("leader") and pelagos ("sea").
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Glass is a noncrystalline material that can maintain indefinitely, if left undisturbed, its overall form and amorphous microstructure at a temperature below its glass transition temperature.
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Lampworking is glassworking using a torch to melt and shape the glass. It is also known as flameworking or torchworking, as the modern practice no longer uses oil-fueled lamps.
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Ancient Rome was a civilization that grew from a small agricultural community founded on the Italian Peninsula circa the 9th century BC to a massive empire straddling the Mediterranean Sea.
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The 6th century is the period from 501 to 600 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. This century is widely considered to mark the end of Classical Antiquity and the beginning of the Dark Ages.
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Country Italy
Region Veneto
Province Treviso (TV)
Mayor Pietro Dalla Libera

Area km
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Time zone CET, UTC+1

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port is a facility for receiving ships and transferring cargo. They are usually situated at the edge of an ocean, sea, river, or lake. Ports often have cargo-handling equipment such as cranes (operated by longshoremen) and forklifts for use in loading/unloading of ships, which may
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Salt is a mineral essential for animal life, composed primarily of sodium chloride. Salt for human consumption is produced in different forms: unrefined salt (such as sea salt), refined salt (table salt), and iodized salt.
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Sant'Erasmo is an island in the Venetian Lagoon lying north of the Lido and north east of Venice.

The island was a port attached to Murano in the 8th century, but is now known for market gardening.
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 11th century was that century which lasted from 1001 to 1100.

In the history of European culture, this period is considered the early part of the High Middle Ages.
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Dorsoduro is one of the six sestieri of Venice. It includes the highest land areas of the city and also includes Giudecca island and Isola Sacca Fisola. Its name derives from the Italian for "hard ridge", due to its comparatively high, stable land.
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As a means of recording the passage of time, the 13th century was that century which lasted from 1201 to 1300. In the history of European culture, this period is considered part of the High Middle Ages, and after its conquests in Asia the Mongol Empire stretched from Korea to
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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 (like otherwise styled counterparts in other cities, e.g.
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1291 in other calendars
Gregorian calendar 1291
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Ab urbe condita 2044
Armenian calendar 740
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Bah' calendar -553 – -552
Buddhist calendar 1835
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Glass is a noncrystalline material that can maintain indefinitely, if left undisturbed, its overall form and amorphous microstructure at a temperature below its glass transition temperature.
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In economics, an export is any good or commodity, transported from one country to another country in a legitimate fashion, typically for use in trade.
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The technology for glass beadmaking is among the oldest human arts, dating back 30,000 years (Dubin, 1987). Glass beads have been dated back to at least Roman times.
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mirror is an object with a surface that has good specular reflection; that is, it is smooth enough to form an image. The most familiar type of mirror is the plane mirror, which has a flat surface.
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Goldstone is a type of synthetic glass made with copper or copper salts in the presence of a reducing flame. Under normal oxidative conditions, copper ions meld into the silica to produce transparent bluish-green glass; when the reduced goldstone melt cools, the copper remains in
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chandelier is a ceiling-mounted fixture with two or more arms bearing lights. Modern chandeliers are often very ornate, containing dozens of lamps and complex arrays of glass shapes to illuminate the room in many intricate patterns.
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The 18th Century lasted from 1701 through 1800 in the Gregorian calendar.

Historians sometimes specifically define the 18th Century otherwise for the purposes of their work.
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15th century was that century which lasted from 1401 to 1500.

Events

  • 1402: Ottoman and Timurid Empires fight at the Battle of Ankara resulting in Timur's capture of Bayezid I.
  • 1402: The conquest of the Canary Islands signals the beginning of the Spanish Empire.

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resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns such as Sochi in Russia, Newport, Rhode Island or St. Moritz, Switzerland, or larger regions, like the Adirondack Mountains or the Italian Riviera.
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palace is the home of a head of state or other high-ranking public figure. In some countries, such as Italy, the term is also applied to some private mansions. Many palaces are now put to other uses such as parliaments or museums.
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orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs maintained for food production. Most orchards comprise either fruit or nut-producing trees (see fruit trees), for commercial production.
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Vegetable is a term which generally refers to an edible part of a plant. The definition is traditional rather than scientific and is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. All parts of herbaceous plants eaten as food by humans, whole or in part, are normally considered vegetables.
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