The National Museum of Palazzo Venezia is housed in what once was the grand residence of the Venetian Pope Paul II Barbo (1464-1471), great collector and initiator of the artistic future of the building. The museum was opened in 1921, polarizing its interest around the so-called applied arts.
It houses collections of paintings on wood and canvas dating back to the 15th-18th centuries; eighteenth-century pastels, as well as miniatures and fans; a rich series of Italian and German wooden sculptures; a valuable collection of sketches and terracotta reliefs from the 16th and 17th centuries; early Medieval and Renaissance marbles; seal plates, enamels, religious items made of gold and silverware for profane use, glass, ivory and Renaissance bronzes of the Italian school; a vast collection of pottery and porcelain.
There is also a large collection of chests and furniture in general, of wrought iron, as well as a remarkable collection of antique weapons and armour.