Venice · Castello
Biennale Giardini and Arsenale
National pavilions in a park and a rope factory the length of a runway, every year since 1895
The Corderie, three hundred metres of brick colonnade filled with one curator's argument
The first international art exhibition of its kind opened in 1895 and countries began building their own permanent pavilions in the Giardini soon after, which is why a public park in Venice now contains thirty national buildings in the architectural styles of a century of diplomacy. The Arsenale added the Corderie, the republic's old rope factory, as a second site.
Art years and architecture years alternate. One ticket covers both sites and allows two entries on separate days, which you will need: doing the Giardini and the Arsenale in one go is a mistake people make exactly once.
The detail
Good to know
- First held
- 1895
- Sites
- Giardini and Arsenale
- Ticket
- Both sites, two entries on separate days
- Season
- April to November
More in Venice
Three more rooms in Venice
MuseumVenice · Dorsoduro
Punta della Dogana
The old customs house at the tip of the island, stripped back by Tadao Ando
MuseumVenice · Dorsoduro
Peggy Guggenheim Collection
An unfinished palace on the Grand Canal, holding the collection she assembled in one extraordinary decade
MuseumVenice · Dorsoduro
Gallerie dell'Accademia
Venetian painting from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century, in the school that trained it
Culture Landmarks
Elsewhere: culture landmarks
LandmarkFree ferryAmsterdam · Noord
Eye Filmmuseum
A white origami building across the water, holding the national film archive
LandmarkFree galleriesEdinburgh · Southside
Summerhall
A former veterinary school with thirty rooms, running the sharpest end of the fringe
LandmarkBook aheadBarcelona · Eixample
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
A basilica under construction since 1882, finally nearing its tallest tower