Summer Museum Night at the Maritime Museum Piran
On Saturday, June 21, 2025, the day of the summer solstice, the Maritime Museum participated in the Summer Museum Night with two exhibitions.
At 6 p.m., the opening of the guest exhibition HISTORYA VENICE – A Journey into the Art of Restoration and Decoration took place in the former Monfort salt warehouse in Portorož. After opening remarks by the acting director of the Maritime Museum Piran, Uroš Hribar, curator Duška Žitko introduced the external collaborator and author of the guest exhibition, Ivan Ceschin from Conegliano, Italy, who spoke about his family business specializing in conservation-restoration and the use of traditional craft knowledge in decoration.
At 8 p.m., the main exhibition of the Maritime Museum titled BUCINTORO and the Pearls of Piran’s Venetian Heritage was opened in the park by the museum. Its authors are Duška Žitko, Graziella Viola, and Flavio Bonin, with external collaborators Ivan Ceschin and Giorgio Suppiej.
After an introductory greeting, Duška Žitko explained that the loan of the Bucintoro model, created by master Ivan Ceschin, inspired the presentation of the treasures held by the Maritime Museum. Mr. Ceschin presented the 1:25 scale model of the famous 18th-century Bucintoro, which he designed and crafted in his Historya workshop.
Giorgio Suppiej, an excellent expert on Venetian maritime history and collector from Venice who contributed some exceptional original items from 1729, the year the last Bucintoro was launched, described their history in more detail.
Duška Žitko also highlighted the graphic work Battle of Savudrija by Domenico Rossetti, based on a painting by Domenico Tintoretto in the Doge’s Palace in Venice, and a canvas from the workshop of Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto, Madonna and Child with the City Fathers of Piran, which decorates the Piran Town Hall.
Flavio Bonin spoke about the development of maritime trade and commerce in the coastal towns of northwestern Istria and about the Serenissima – the Mediterranean maritime power.
Graziella Viola described the development of the old Piran city library (Biblioteca civica), which is preserved by the Maritime Museum of Piran. She emphasized that her valuable materials are being presented for the first time in the exhibition, which, due to their content, age, and rarity, represent an exceptional richness of written cultural heritage.
Special thanks were also extended to the Regional Archive Koper, Piran Unit, which lent the Maritime Museum a parchment document of the Piran oath of allegiance to the Venetian Republic dated January 26, 1283.
The pleasant atmosphere was enhanced by a musical performance by singer, storyteller, and folk music researcher Ljoba Jenče, accompanied on viola by Domen Marinčič.
The main exhibition is on view on the ground floor of the Gabrielli Palace, while on the first floor (piano nobile) the exceptional model of the Bucintoro ship, the famous ceremonial vessel of the Serenissima, is displayed. Visitors can also see various objects from the permanent museum collection dating from the Venetian Republic period, specially marked with a label showing the lion’s head from the last Bucintoro.
The guest exhibition HISTORYA VENICE – A Journey into the Art of Restoration and Decoration will be on display at the former Monfort salt warehouse in Portorož until August 31, 2025.
The main exhibition BUCINTORO and the Pearls of Piran’s Venetian Heritage will be on display at the Gabrielli Palace in Piran until December 2025.
You are warmly invited to visit!
