The town is built upon one broad main canal, where the tidal current runs with great force, and upon several smaller ones. The cathedral, S. Donato, is a fine basilica, probably of the 11th century. The pavement is as richly inlaid as that of St Mark’s, and the mosaics of the tribune are remarkable. The exterior of the tribune is very beautiful, and has been successfully restored. The 15th-century church of St Peter the Martyr contains a fine picture by Gentile Bellini. Murano has from ancient times been celebrated for its glass manufactories. When and how the art was introduced is wrapped in great obscurity, but there are notices of it as early as the 11th century; and in 1250 Cristoforo Briani, encouraged by the accounts of the gems of Guinea which the traveller Marco Polo brought to Venice, attempted the imitation of agate and chalcedony. From the labours of his pupil Miotto sprang the whole of that branch of the glass trade which is concerned with the imitation of gems. In the 15th century the first crystals were made, and in the 17th the various gradations of coloured and iridescent glass were invented, together with the composition called “aventurine”; the manufacture of .beads is now a main branch of the trade. The art of the glass-workers was taken under the protection of the Government in 1275, and regulated by a special code of laws and privileges; two fairs were held annually, and the export of all materials, such as alum and sand, which enter into the composition of glass was absolutely forbidden. With the decay of Venice the importance of the Murano glass-works declined; but at the present time there are signs of renewed activity. As many as eight firms, employing 2500 hands, are engaged in the trade,—the most renowned being “The Venezia Murano Company” and Salviati. The municipal museum contains a collection of glass illustrating the history and progress of the art.

The island of Murano was first peopled by the inhabitants of Altino, when they fled before their barbarian invaders. It originally enjoyed independence under the rule of its tribunes and judges, and was one of the twelve confederate islands of the lagoons. In the 12th century the doge Vital Micheli II. incorporated Murano in Venice and attached it to the Sestiere of S. Croce. From that date it was governed by a Venetian nobleman with the title of podestà, whose office lasted sixteen months. Murano, however, still retained its original constitution of a greater and a lesser council for the transaction of municipal business, and also the right to coin gold and silver, as well as its judicial powers civil and criminal. The interests of the town were watched at the ducal palace by a nuncio and a solicitor; and this constitution remained in force till the fall of the republic.

Books.—Venezia e le Sue Lagune; Paoletti, Il Fiore di Venezia; Bussolin, Guida alle Fabbrwħe vetrarie di Murano ; Romanin, Storia Documentât/! di Venezia, vol. i. p. 41.