The North Arsenal area is the most recent part of the entire Venice Arsenal which is an ancient complex of shipyards and workshops that forms a very large part of the island city of Venice, at its eastern end.
It was the heart of the Venetian naval industry starting from the 12th century and is linked to the most flourishing period of the life of the Serenissima: thanks to the imposing ships built here, the Venetian Republic was able to fight the Ottomans in the Aegean Sea and to conquer the routes of northern Europe.
Thanks to its organization, the arsenal of Venice anticipated the modern concept of factory by a few centuries, intended as a production complex in which specialized workers carry out the individual assembly operations of an artifact in succession, along an assembly line and using standard components.
It represents the most important example of a large production complex with a centralized structure of the pre-industrial economy. Even today the northern area is active as a naval industry for maintenance and research / development. Thetis Space is also used as an area for cultural events and activities.
The surface extends over an area of ??48 hectares (15% of the surface of the city), while the number of workers (the arsenalotti) reached, in periods of full production activity, the average daily quota of 1500-2000 units (with a peak of 4500-5000 enrolled in the Book of Workers), that is from 2% up to 5% of the entire city population of the time (about 100,000 inhabitants).
The complex is the only example of a shipyard and arms factory that has always maintained the same nature and the same function, for seven centuries, even after the decline of the Republic of Venice.
The ownership of most of the Arsenal has, since 2013, passed to the Municipality of Venice, while the residual part remains with the Italian Navy, present in the area with its Institute of Maritime Military Studies and the Naval History Museum. About a quarter of the large complex is used by the Venice Biennale for its contemporary art exhibitions.
North Arsenal - Thetis Space
Address: Tese alle Nappe (Tese n. 89-90-91), Bacini dell'Arsenale Nord, 30122 Castello
Phone: 041 27 22 111
Site:
http://actv.avmspa.it/enLocation inserted by
Laura Gill