Palazzo Labia

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Palazzo Labia Campo San Geremia
View from the Grand Canal

Palazzo Labia is a Baroque palace in Venice , in the Cannaregio sestiere , located near the confluence of the Canale di Cannaregio with the Grand Canal , between the Palazzo Venier Manfrin and the Church of San Geremia . Built in the 17th and 18th centuries, it is one of the last great palaces in Venice. The decoration of the large ballroom is a major work of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo .

description

The main facade is oriented towards the Canale di Cannaregio , the more modest side with only three window axes towards the Canal Grande. The third facade overlooks Campo San Geremia. The relatively unknown architects Andrea Cominelli and Alessandro and his son Paolo Tremignon, who were entrusted with the construction, are still clearly under the influence of Baldassare Longhena . The façades to the canals have a Doric rustication on the ground floor and are divided on the upper floors by Ionic and Corinthian columns. There are balustrades in front of the windows and various sculptures of heads in the arches. The numerous crowned eagles (heraldic animal of the labia) between the oval windows below the cornices are striking.

Facade to Campo San Geremia before the extension

The facade facing Campo San Geremia was asymmetrically expanded at the beginning of the 18th century. The ballroom, created by Giorgio Massari over two floors, is located in the center of the building and has the width of the facade facing the Grand Canal. Then there is a square inner courtyard with rusticated double columns on the ground floor.

history

The Labia family came from Catalonia and made incredible fortune in Venice. They were the first family to be accepted into the Venetian patriciate in 1646 after the so-called “ serrata del Maggior Consiglio ” (closure of the Great Council , 1297) against payment of one hundred thousand ducats . The magnificent palace was intended to underline the importance of the Labia family to the long-established patricians. The ballroom's tiepolo frescos were likely commissioned by the lavish Paolo Antonio Labia. It is said of him that at the end of a banquet he had the golden tableware thrown out the window with the words: “L'abia o no l'abia, sarò semper Labia” (whether I have it or not, I always will be a labia).

His mother Maria Labia, née Civran, a very beautiful woman, is said to have been immortalized by Tiepolo in the figure of Cleopatra . After the fall of the republic, the Labia lost their fortune and eventually moved to Austria. At the beginning of the 19th century the palace was acquired by a prince Lobkowitz , later it came into the possession of a Viennese Israelite charitable foundation, which sold the remaining inventory and divided the palace into apartments. In 1850 there were 50 looms in the piano nobile and a sawmill on the upper floor. In 1890 the city of Venice did not want to spend 50,000 lire on the building, even though it had already rented rooms in it for a primary school. The palace had changing owners until 1951 and kept falling. In 1945, a munitions ship exploded in close proximity, damaging the palace and Tiepolo's frescoes.

In 1948 the Franco-Mexican oil magnate Carlos de Beistegui acquired the palace and had it restored. After the work was completed, the “Ball of the Century” took place on September 3, 1951 in costumes from the 18th century. In 1964 the RAI auctioned the Palazzo for 350 million lire and subsequently made great efforts to preserve and restore the building and its works of art. The rooms are made available for international conferences etc. and can be viewed by prior arrangement.

In 2008, the RAI put the building up for sale, but its Venetian editorial team protested. In 2012 the project was developed that half of the museum pool of the municipality of Venice and the Venetian foundation Fondazione Harthstarich the other half of the palace (estimated price 40 million euros) should be acquired in order to turn it into a museum and exhibition building. So far (as of 2018) the purchase has not been processed, the RAI still has its regional editorial office here. The international Cartoons on the Bay festival was held here in 2014, 2015 and 2016 .

inside rooms

Meeting of Antony and Cleopatra, Freco by Giambattista Tiepolo .

In the ballroom , Giovanni Battista Tiepolo created the magnificent cycle “History of Antony and Cleopatra ” from 1746–1747 . The quadrature painting comes from Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna . The central ceiling painting depicts “ Bellerophon on Pegasus ”. In the hall of mirrors we find another ceiling painting by Tiepolo “Triumph of Zephyr and Flora ”. In the other rooms of the palace there are works by Giandomenico Tiepolo , Palma il Giovane , Giambattista Canal , Placido Costanzi , Agostino Masucci , Pompeo Batoni , Gregorio Lazzarini , Gaspare Diziani and Antonio Visentini . Also noteworthy are the Flemish tapestries (Stories of Scipio )

literature

Web links

Commons : Palazzo Labia  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Se la Rai se ne va il Comune è pronto ad "accaparrarsi" Palazzo Labia. In: VeneziaToday.it. April 12, 2012, accessed October 1, 2018 (Italian).

Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 35 "  N , 12 ° 19 ′ 29.8"  E