The Venice State Archive, or State Archive of Venice, () is located at Campo dei Frari, San Polo Venice.
Significance
The archive contains most of the historical sources that the Republic of Venice has had since the city fire of 976 (cf. Pietro IV. Candiano). up to 1797, as well as the holdings of Italian state offices based in Venice from 1866, which were ceded to the archive. The locally created archival materials from the French and Austrian periods between 1797 and 1866 are also located there. There are also isolated documents from before 976.
The more recent municipal holdings are in the Archivio storico del Comune di Venezia, while those of the parishes, the defunct dioceses and the patriarchate are in the Archivio storico del Patriarcato di Venezia.
Also in the state archive are numerous holdings from monasteries and churches, professional associations and families, the six Scuole Grandi and the numerous Scuole piccole and the brotherhoods, notaries, etc. There is also a library with a stock of around 59,000 volumes.
Headquarters is a former Franciscan monastery at the Frari Church in the Sestiere of San Polo.
The house is not only the most important archive for Venetian history and that of Veneto, but also of the greatest importance for the entire area of the former colonial empire, i.e., the area between the upper Adriatic and Cyprus. The same applies to the history of the Mediterranean area touched by Venice's foreign relations, the Black Sea, but also the North Sea area and the southern German cities. It is also the most important archive for the history of the Balkans until well into the Ottoman period.
History
The Franciscan Monastery
The Franciscan monastery goes back to a donation from Doge Jacopo Tiepolo in 1246. The Order was permitted to drain the lacus Badovarius or Badovariorum. The small lake was named after the neighboring palace of the Badoer family. The number of monks and the amount of donations grew rapidly, so that on April 28, 1250, the foundation stone could be laid. One of the largest Franciscan churches in Europe was built by the end of the 15th century. Therefore, the double convent building was also called domus magna or cà granda. The outer, larger monastery was dedicated to the Trinity, the inner, smaller monastery to Sant'Antonio. The order was dissolved in 1810.
Beginnings
Jacopo Chiodo, who preferred the baptismal name Giacomo Chiodo, worked as an archivist both before and after 1797. He tried to initiate the establishment of a central archive, to which both Vienna and Paris agreed. However, it was not set up initially, instead there were still three departments in different locations: the "political" archives were kept in San Teodoro, a branch managed by Carlo Antonio Marin, while the court files were moved to San Giovanni and Archival documents of the Treasury and the Domains stored in San Provolo.
In 1815 Venice was returned to Austria, and in the same year the decision was made to set up a central archive. The state archive was created from 1817 under the name Archivio generale veneto, its first director was Chiodo, who retired in 1840. Actually, all archival material should be transferred to the current archive of the Austrians, but Chiodo managed to avert this. Between 1817 and 1822 the state files from the time of the Republic were brought there. In Napoleon's time, if they had not been taken to Paris and later to Vienna, they were spread over three locations. The state holdings from the period up to 1797 were originally located in the Doge's Palace, in the Procuratie or in the institutions at the Rialto Bridge. The files of the political organs were now in the Scuola grande di S. Teodoro, the court files were in San Zanipolo, while the economic files, especially those of the tax authorities, were in a palazzo near San Provolo. The notarial files were initially located at Rialto, but were relocated several times.
From 1797, French and Austrian authorities were in the city, and their holdings were transferred to the State Archives. The state institutions that arose in the city from 1866, when the city became part of Italy, also bequeathed their holdings to the archive, which was now the state archive. In 1875 the archive expanded and incorporated the former monastery of Ss. Trinità and S. Antonio beyond S. Nicoletto ai Frari. Therefore, the cul-de-sac behind the monastery is now called Calle dietro l'archivio, ().