Back Zecca (Venedig) German Ceca de Venecia Spanish Zecca de Venise French Zecca Croatian Zecca (Velence) Hungarian Zecca di Venezia Italian ヴェネツィアのゼッカ Japanese 제카 (베네치아) Korean Zecca (Venetië) Dutch Zecca Romanian
 Main façade | |
| Location | Venice, Italy |
|---|---|
| Built | 1536–1548 |
| Original use | Mint of the Venetian Republic |
| Current use | Marciana Library |
| Architect | Jacopo Sansovino |
| Architectural style(s) | High Renaissance |
The Zecca (English: Mint) is a sixteenth-century building in Venice, Italy which once housed the mint of the Republic of Venice. Built between 1536 and 1548, the heavily rusticated stone structure, originally with only two floors, was designed by Jacopo Sansovino in place of an earlier mint specifically to ensure safety from fire and to provide adequate security for the silver and gold deposits. Giorgio Vasari considered it the finest, richest, and strongest of Sansovino's buildings ("...bellissimo, ricchissimo, e fortissimo edificio de' suoi è la Zecca di Venezia...").[1]
Coin production continued after the fall of the Republic of Venice in 1797 but ceased in 1852 during the second period of Austrian domination (1814–1866). The building was subsequently adapted and served as the seat for the Chamber of Commerce from 1872 until 1900. Since 1904, it has housed the main part of the Marciana Library whose historical building, next door, is now largely a museum.
- ^ Vasari, Le vite..., VII (1881), p. 504. The quote does not appear in the 1568 edition of Vite but was included in an expanded biography of Sansovino written by Vasari after 1570 and republished in 1789. See Gaetano Milanesi's note on page 485.