Photographic archive Gerola

Photographic archive Gerola is preserved by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti at Palazzo Loredan in Venice.

In consideration of the ambiguous situation that had come about on the big Mediterranean island and the rapid deterioration of its historical monuments (threatened by theft and reckless demolitions), in 1898 the Italian Ministry of Education decided to send an archaeological mission to Crete, directed by Federico Halbherr.

A member and future president of the Royal Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, Carlo Francesco Ferraris, suggested to the members that they finance the sending of a delegate to Crete who could support the Italian mission with the specific task of exploring and illustrating the monuments that can still be found there of Venetian rule, which extended from 1204 to 1669.

In 1899 Giuseppe Gerola, on the recommendation of Halbherr (also originally from Rovereto), was appointed by the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti to carry out a study campaign in Crete aimed at recording the monumental and artistic signs of Venetian rule there.

Gerola wrote five reports for the Istituto, made more than 50 plaster casts (most of which are in storage at the Museo Storico Navale), took 1500 photographs, whose negatives are held at the Istituto Veneto, and made a large number of sketches, drawings and notes.