The Palace of Ca'D'Oro

  The palace of Ca'D'Oro was built in the 15th century, on the place of a Venicean-Byzantine palace, at the command of Marino Contarini, a descending of a doges family. This palace is, after San Marco, the most charcteristic of the Gothic-Venicean style. The palace has a ground floor and two floors, having harmonious proportions, and the front of this palace from the Canal Grande is decoreted with Gothic flying buttresses and with capitals of a rare beauty. The balconys or the lodges of the two floors with the stairs of marble witch reach in water, the ogives and the pillars open towards water contribuite to the special elegance of the building. Also, the Palace of Ca'D'Oro has an internal courtyard with stone and marble harmonys and another portal witch opens to the street. The halls or the rooms are big, light and reach towards lodges from Canal Grande.

  In time, this palace passed through many dominations, being changed and transformed in a unhappy way, taking its original beauty and harmony. The men who saved it from decline was the Italian baron Giorgio-Franchetti who decided to restore it in the ancient authentic style, using experienced architects. In this way, at the beginning of the 20th century, the front, the internal courtyard and the rooms regained the original Gothic-Venicean style. Giorgio Franchetti gave the palace, in 1916, to Italian state, and after his death, in 1922, he gave also to the state his art colection, Ca'D'Oro becoming, in this way, a museum.