The Venice Biennale

The Venice Biennale (La Biennale di Venezia) is renowned for setting new global trends and launching the international careers of many pioneering artists and architects. The Venice Biennale has been for over 120 years one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. Established in 1895, the Biennale has an attendance today of over 500,000 visitors at the Art Exhibition. The history of the La Biennale di Venezia dates back from 1895, when the first International Art Exhibition was organized. Welcoming over 200,000 visitors during its opening year, it proved to be a huge success and the festival continues to thrive today.

The Venice Biennale is open to the public for six months, from May until November, and alternates each year between art and architecture and so called because it is held biennially (in odd-numbered years). The world's top curators organise ambitious exhibitions that are often considered to be highly political, provocative or ground-breaking. The official Biennale exhibition is spread across two venues in the east of the city: the Arsenale and the Giardini. The Giardini, an area of parkland, houses the Central Pavilion and 29 national pavilions. Each of them presents its own showcase from a particular country or region.