The Zecca is a sixteenth-century building in Venice, Italy which once housed the mint of the Republic of Venice. Built between 1536 and 1548, the heavily rusticated stone structure, originally with only two floors, was designed by Jacopo Sansovino in place of an earlier mint specifically to ensure safety from fire and to provide adequate security for the silver and gold deposits. Giorgio Vasari considered it the finest, richest, and strongest of Sansovino's buildings.
Main façade
Detail from woodcut Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam by Erhard Reuwich (1486), showing the earlier mint (shaded) in Saint Mark's Square.
Tintoretto, Portrait of Jacopo Sansovino (before 1546), Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi. The architect also served as consultant architect for the construction of the Zecca to draw up contracts and to resolve all design-related matters.
a. St Mark's Basilica b. Ducal Palace c. Bell tower and Loggetta d. Marciana Library e. Mint f. Procuratie Nuove g. Napoleonic wing h. Procuratie Vecchie i. Clock tower
A mint is an industrial facility which manufactures coins that can be used as currency.
United States Mint, Philadelphia
Bronze mold for minting banliang coins, Warring States period (475–221 BC), State of Qin, from an excavation in Qishan County, Baoji, Shaanxi province, China
Ionia, uncertain city (possibly Kyme, Aeolis) 600–550 BCE, Hemiobol. Horse head, rough incuse
A furnace for producing molten metal for coin production.
