Museum of Lace" Burano

The Museum of Venetian Lace, which opened in 1981, is located on the historic island of Burano. The School of Venetian Lace was founded in 1872 by Countess Andriana Marcello, with the aim of preserving the folk tradition.

From the XV century to the present day, handmade craftsmen from the island of Burano, creating unique lace, was valued for its weight in gold. Unfortunately, these days, real lace is rare even in Venice. In the archives of the school there are many documents and drawings of documents, which were systematized and combined into a collection. Thus was born the idea of the Museum of Venice Lace.

The museum has many valuable works from the collections of the school, as well as samples of lace from the sixteenth to the twentieth century. Three floors of the museum are occupied by exhibits presented by different periods of the development of the Burano lace craft, nicknamed Venetian lace. Among the exhibits you can see beautiful samples of old craftsmen and products of modern needlewomen. There are samples of church vestments decorated with lace woven from gold and silver threads.

You can see real Buran lace only in the museum. Staying on the island, you can hear the legend that the origins of this type of needlework was a young girl, the wife of a fisherman. It was she who was able to weave an amazing drawing that exactly reproduced the seaweed given to her by her husband.