This is one of the oldest public museums in Europe, founded in 1714 by Marquis Scipione Maffei. The museum’s core can be located in the space between the old walls joining Piazza Bra with Castelvecchio made up of 30 of the Nichesola family’s roman marbles collected and displayed in the courtyard opposite the building. Later, with permission from the Venetian state, Maffei increased the collection to over 200 valuable statues. It is said that the Marquis even robbed a few tombs in order to decorate the rooms of the museum.