The Tsaritsyno Museum-Reserve will open an exhibition dedicated to Venice of the 18th century.

From April 27 to August 29, the Tsaritsyno Museum will open an exhibition “Under the Mask of Venice”, which will show what the everyday life of the famous Italian city was like in the 18th century. The exposition will occupy eight halls of the Bread House. There will be real carnival masks and old costumes, paintings and decor items.

The period to which the exhibition is dedicated – the Venetian Settecento – became the last century of the existence of an independent city-state. These were years full of luxury and celebration. The townspeople no longer paid for the wars. And trade brought Venice a good income, so many had enough money not only for everyday life, but also for grandiose entertainment.

The exhibition will be organized in collaboration with the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia, a collection of which contains many artifacts related to Venetian history and culture. More than a hundred of them will be shown for the first time in Russia. Thus, visitors will see carnival masks, paintings by the Venetian artist Pietro Longhi, costumes of noble townspeople, decanters and bottles from the famous Murano glass. Portraits of the Doges and Dogares and other items.

Visitors to the exhibition will be able not only to look into the study of an educated Venetian or the boudoir of a society lady. But also to see the other side of the carnival luxury that violators of public order faced. A separate exhibition hall will be dedicated to gambling. Venice was the only city in Europe where casinos were not banned.