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Demolished
This page is under construction, funnily enough.

 

Cannaregio



A detail from the Merian map of 1635  showing Corpus Domini and Santa Lucia on the north bank of the Grand Canal and
Santa Croce and the old church of San Simeon on the south bank.

Corpus Domini 


Established 1393 by the abbess Lucia Tiepolo, then the abbess of the declining convent of Sant'Apostolo in lagoon, who had a vision that she must set up a new church in Venice. Within six years she had found some land on the northwest tip of the city, and obtained funds from a nobleman called Francesco Rabia, and built a small church. The convent was initially just a dormitory off the church, but soon afterwards two devout young girls, Isabetta and Andreola Tommasini had visions that they should build a church in the same place. Their confessor, Giovanni Dominici, had the same vision and helped them to obtain papal permission. Lucia Tiepolo agreed to become the first priora of the convent they now built, and to change the order from Benedictine to Dominican. The girls' dowries were used for the construction of a new church and a substantial convent that was consecrated in 1394. The complex was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in 1440, with reconsecration in 1444.

The body of Saint Lucy was put in Corpus Domini during the 1400s, while they were building her own church nearby. But it was there so long that the nuns began to consider it their own and were very unhappy about letting it go. So much so that in 1476 a little commando unit of nuns stole the body from the monastery of Santa Lucia and brought it back, hiding it under some stairs. Even a delegation from the Council of Ten did not succeed in getting the ninja nuns to reveal where the body was. So they ordered the doors and windows of Corpus Domini to be walled up until they let their hostage out. When the builders arrived, the nuns gave up the body.

The Convent of the Penitential Sisters of Saint Dominic in Venice, the church, and the kitchen gardens were demolished in 1810 to make way for the railway company's offices. Two altars, with paintings by Visentini, were salvaged and taken to San Pietro di Castello, but reassembled poorly and unrecognisably. A façade model and the print (right) are in the Correr museum. The Canaletto (above right) has Corpus Domini on the left and the also-demolished church of Santa Croce on the right.
 












 
Crociferi 
 
     
 
The Gesuiti church was built on the site of… A Tintoretto Assumption from the Crociferi is now in the Gesuiti. The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by him is now in the Accademia. Veronese's Adoration of the shepherds in now in San Zanipolo.
   













 Santa Lucia

History
There had been a church on this site since 1192, probably. In 1280 the remains of St Lucy were brought here from San Giorgio Maggiore. Restored in 1343 it later passed from the Dominicans to Augustinian nuns who added a convent. Disputes between the nuns here and at Corpus Domini over St Lucy's remains (see below) were finally resolved with Santa Lucia's Augustinians  getting the remains and the Corpus Domini Dominicans getting 40 gold ducats.

Original gothic church (visible on De Barbari's map) rebuilt 1580-90 by Leonardo Mocinego with a chapel for his family by Palladio. This church had a classical façade (see print right). The nuns were removed in 1806 and St Lucy's remains were acquired by the church of San Geremia.  Complex demolished during 1840s by the Austrians to make way for the railway station of the same name, itself replaced by the current station in 1954.

Campanile
Tower in De Barbari map replaced with two small towers during 1580s rebuilding.
Santa Maria Nova

History
Built around 971, by the Borselli familly. Originally dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption, it became known as Santa Maria Nova in the 13th Century. The church fell down in 1535, was rebuilt, and then restored in the 18th Century, with the façade finished by Giovanni Vettori in 1760. Closed in 1808, its art and ornaments were dispersed and the remains of those buried here taken to the ossuary island of Sant'Ariano. These remains included those of the philosopher Fortunio Spira, the Wocowich-Lazzari family and Doge Nicolo Contarini. Conte Widman bought some bits of the campanile, which had been rebuilt after collapsing in 1488 and was demolished in 1839, for use in some houses he was building in Casselleria. The church was demolished in 1852.

The Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli and the apse of Santa Maria Nuova by Bernardo Bellotto (right).

 

Castello
 

 

This detail from the map of 1635 shows the three churches demolished to make way for the Giardini Pubblici.
In the foreground Sant'Antonio, above it to the left is the domed San Nicolò.
Then in front of the walls of the Arsenale (top left) is San Domenico on this side of the now filled-in canal.

The three churches demolished in 1808
to make way for the public gardens

Sant'Antonio di Castello

Built from 1346, the first stone was laid by the founder,  Fra Giotto degli Abbati, a Florentine nobleman and prior of the Canons of St Anthony. Monastery and church passed to the Laterans until they were suppressed in 1768.

One of the three churches demolished in 1808 by Napoleon to make way for the public gardens, this one seems to have been the greatest loss. Two of the church's bells were sold to help pay for the under funded project and materials from the church used towards one building, later demolished to make way for the Biennale buildings later in the 19th Century. The Doric arch of the Lando chapel of the church still stands forlornly in the Giardini Pubblici (see below right) and is all that's left of the fabric of the three demolished churches.

In Sir Francis Palgrave's Hand-book for Travellers in Northern Italy of 1842, the author wrote that the creation of the Giardini Pubblici  'afforded an excuse for pulling down a few churches which in itself was a recommendation for the French.'

The Accademia has a Veneziano polyptych and Apparition of the Martyrs of Mount Ararat (below right) by Carpaccio which depicts the interior of the church before his own painting of the Crucifixion and Glorification of the ten thousand Martyrs of Mount Ararat (also in the Accademia) was installed over the Ottoboni altar.




 





























 

San Domenico
 

Monastery and church founded in 1312. Restored 1506 and 1536. After the Arsenale fire of 1569 the complex was rebuilt in 1586 and the church consecrated in 1609. The court of the Inquisition was held here until 1560 when it moved to the Frari. Prohibited books that had accumulated were burnt on the 29th April and the ashes tipped into the canal that is now the Via Garibaldi. Given to Austrian navy in 1807 and soon after demolished, it being one of the three churches demolished to make way for the Giardini Pubblici, San Domenico faced the (still standing) church of San Francesco di Paula across a canal that was filled in to make the Via Garibaldi. A bridge named after San Domenico was lost too. The bridge and San Bartolomeo (the previous church on the site of San Franceso di Paola) are also visible in the Barbari map of 1500 (see right) beyond San Domenico in the top left-hand corner.
 
San Nicolò
 
One of the three churches demolished by Napoleon to make way for the Giardini Pubblici, but is said to have fallen into disuse as a church long before. It is the church in the foreground (right).  

San Daniele Profeta
 

Founded on the island of San Daniele in 820 by the Bragadin family. Given in 1138 to Manfredo, a Cistercian, and he built a monastery, consecrated in 1219. In 1437 the Augustinian nuns from Sant'Andrea de Zirada moved here. The church had a nave and two aisles with rectangular apses. Their were twelve columns of red Verona marble and nine alters. The complex became a French barracks in 1806 and an Austrian one in 1815.
After the church was demolished the remaining buildings became the college of the Royal Imperial Nave in 1839. What's left is still in use as a barracks.
Lost art
Bas relief of Daniel in the Lions' Den and a1469 carving of the saint now at the Ca'Bragadin (Bigaglia) in Barbaria de le Tole. Two female saints by Alvise Vivarini and Daniel in the Lions' Den by Pietro da Cortona in the Accademia.

San Giustina
   
San Provolo San Procolo
 

Probably founded by the Partecipazio family in 814, with priests nominated by the abbess from the nearby convent of San Zaccaria. Rebuilt in 1384 and again between 1477 and 1504. Restored 1642. Suppressed in 1808, today there's a house and bar on the site. A Signor Procolo was said to have died when the bell from this church's campanile fell on him. Whether the coincidence of his name makes this story more or less believable I leave up to you to decide.
   
San Sepulcro
 

On the Riva degli Schiavone. Altar table with legs in the form of angels by Tullio Lombardo is now in San Martino.
Zorzi p.258
   
San Severo
 

Originally built between 811 and 827 and then rebuilt after the fire of 1105. It kept this form until it was suppressed on 12th April 1813 and demolished in 1829. The Austrians built a prison on the site, which closed in 1929.
 
San Severo, in a detail from the map of 1635,
with the dome of San Zaccaria in the foreground.

Santa Maria Celeste


Built 1119-1239 by the Celsi family, with convent dedicated to St Mary of Heaven. Convent rebuilt following Arsenale fire of 1569 by Andrea Palladio. The church rebuilding fell to Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1581, who planned a domed structure (inspired by Palladio's rejected original design for the Redentore) but the nuns rejected his plans just as the dome was being installed. In 1611, having demolished this building, they erected a latin-cross shaped church, which was demolished in 1810. The convent was used as Austrian garrison barracks from 1858-76, as a school for naval mechanics from the Arsenale from 1873-1943. In 1930 part of it was converted into public housing, the rest being an historical archive. Restoration recently begun on the cloister.
   
Santa Maria delle Vergini Le Virgini

Built by Doge Pietro Ziani, at the suggestion of Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia, who later became Pope Gregory IX, on a visit as apostolic legate in 1224. The Augustinian convent and church were named Santa Maria Nova, to commemorate the church in Palestine destroyed by the Saracens. After the usual fires and reconstructions Guglielmo dei Grigi was commissioned to undertake rebuilding between 1547 and 1549. Church and monastery suppressed and given to the Navy in 1806, becoming a prison in 1809. The choir was demolished in 1822, the remaining parts in 1844.  All that's left is this relief (right), God the Father with the Virgin and Saints, now embedded in the wall of the Arsenale.

Campanile
A chunky one, as seen in the map of 1635, demolished between 1844 and 1869 to make way for a dry dock.
 



A detail from the map of 1635 showing Santa Maria delle Vergini with (left foreground) San Daniel
Santa Marina

Founded in 1130 by the Balbi family and dedicated to San Liberale and Sant'Alassio. The body of St Margaret of Antioch (known as Santa Marina) was brought here from Constantinople in 1231 and placed on the high altar, resulting in the church switching dedication to her. The church had two fine monuments, one to Doge Michele Steno, the other to Doge Nicolò Marcello and the work of Pietro Lombardo. Both are now in San Zanipolo. The church was restored a few times before suppression in 1810. In 1818 it became a tavern. It was demolished in 1820 to make way for housing. The church is commemorated by a small altar with an image of Santa Marina on the wall of a house.
 
   
Santa Ternità

History
There's still a campo named after church, which was at what is now number 3026. The church founded during the reign of Doge Pietro Centranico  (1026-1032) by the Celsi and Sagredo families. The remains of San Gherardo Sagredo, martyred in Hungary in 1046, were preserved as a relic in the family chapel to the left of the high altar. He is now commemorated by the Sagredo chapel in San Francesco della Vigna. Santa Ternità was restored in the 13th Century, when the body of St Athanasius was brought here. Rebuilt in 1607, in 1569 after a fire at the Arsenale, and in 1721. Suppressed in 1810 and used as a timber store, until it was demolished in 1832.

Campanile
12th Century and detached, it was truncated when the church was demolished and was lived in, until it collapsed on 13th December 1880, burying Giovanni Baratelli, a ship's engineer, who was dug out unharmed.
 
 



















A detail from the map of 1635 showing Santa Ternità in the
left foreground, with Santa Maria Celeste to the right and
San Francesco della Vigna, top left.


Dorsoduro
 


Santa Maria dell'Umilita
demolished to make room for the Salute. Had a fine Tintoretto Deposition of c.1560 now in the Accademia. Also three oval ceiling paintings by Veronese, moved to San Zanipolo in 1919.

Chiesa degli Incurabili – Tintoretto's Voyage of St Ursula with the eleven thousand virgins and a Crucifixion by Veronese taken from this church to San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti

San Basilio
Built in either late 9th or early 10th Century. Renovated after fire of 1105, but collapsed during 1347 earthquake. Rebuilt and reconsecrated 1348. Further restoration 1476 to 1514. Had a nave and two aisles separated by columns, with ship's-keel ceilng and an image of St Basil over the altar. Restored by Andrea Tirali in 1730. Became a timber warehouse before being demolished in 1824.

 

   

San Marco
 













































 

























 

 

San Geminiano (left) 
There is said to have been a church on roughly this site (facing the Basilica San Marco across the Piazza) since 552. I say roughly because a medieval church was demolished in the early 13th Century to extend the Piazza. This annoyed the pope and a new church was built further to the West, on the Rio Balari, which was later buried beneath paving. Begun by Venetian architect Cristoforo da Legname in 1505, this church was completed by Jacopo Sansovino in 1575 as part of his major improvements to the whole piazza. Work on the interior and façade was financed by Tommaso Rangone on condition his effigy was displayed, as in San Giuliano. It was demolished, to no small outcry, to make way for the staircase of Napoleon's Palazzo Reale in May 1807. Since 1797 it had served as a military barracks due to its strategic position. It was originally to be replaced by a triumphal arch. Sansovino was buried in the church but his remains moved upon demolition to the Seminario della Salute. His children, Fiorenza and Francesco had also been buried in the church.

Sansovino described the church as being lavishly decorated within and encrusted with marble and Istrian stone on the outside. It is extremely rich and well-conceived in design.
In the Hand-book for Travellers in Northern Italy, a guidebook of 1842, the author, Sir Francis Palgrave wrote that the destruction of San Geminiano was a 'Gallic vandalism ...which has inflicted such irreparable injury upon the fine arts'.

The nearby church of San Maurizio was designed by patrician Pietro Zaguri who drew inspiration from Codussi and from Sansovino’s San Giminiano.

Lost art
Three statues of saints by Bartolomeo Bergamasco taken from the demolished church of San Geminiano now on the high altar of San Giovanni di Malta. The remains of San Geminiano transferred to church of Santissimo Nome di Gesu. Organ doors by Veronese now in the Galleria Estense in Modena. Bust of Alessandro Vittoria now in the Ca' d'Oro.


Sant'Angelo

Founded in 920, campanile toppled by earthquake in 1084, burnt down in 1105, rebuilt in 1431, and restored after another fire in 1685. Closed on the 14th October 1810 and used as a warehouse until it was demolished in 1837.

Campanile
The first one was toppled by an earthquake in in 1084. A latter detached campanile fell down in 1347 after, it is said, the bells rang out of their own accord. In 1455 an architect called Fioravanti tried to correct a strong inclination and a day later it fell, killing two friars. It was rebuilt in 1456 but struck by lightening in 1487. A restored campanile lasted until the church was demolished in 1837. The church appears in paintings by Canaletto and Bella in the Querini Stampalia gallery.

Santa Maria dell'Ascensione
(Santa Maria in Broglio)
In the 12th century the order of Templars owned the church of Santa Maria in Broglio (from brolo meaning garden or orchard) with an attached hospice for pilgrims on their way to the holy land. It stood on the site of the current Hotel Luna by the Vallaresso vaporetto stop. Abandoned in 1311, when Pope Clement V abolished the Templars the complex passed to the Knights of Malta, who later sold it to the procurators of San Marco. They rented it to a Fra Malasa on the understanding that he didn't use it to house the poor but keep it available for visiting ambassadors. In the late-15th Century the monastery was rented to the Osteria della Luna. Restoration work on the church was begun in 1516 by the confraternity of the Holy Spirit (aka the confraternity of the Ascension) but was not completed until 1597, because of conflicts with the confraternity of the Blind. The church was later renamed after the Feast of the Ascension and closed in 1810. It was used as a warehouse until it was demolished in 1824 to make way for an extension to the hotel.





San Paterniano

Tradition has it that the Andreada family founded a wooden church in the 10th Century dedicated to St Paternian, an image of whom had been brought from the March of Ancona in 890 and venerated in a tabernacle. This church burnt down in 976 and was rebuilt in stone between 1005 and 1168 using eight Greek marble columns brought from Constantinople. Rebuilt again in 1437 with a nave, two aisles and seven altars. Closed in 1810. The church and its pentagonal campanile dating from 999, and so the oldest in Venice, was demolished by the Town Council in 1871 to make way for the Manin statue in Campo Manin after having first put them up for auction and having found no takers.
 








 

 

Santi Filippo e Giacomo  Built in 900, restored in 1683, secularised in 1807 and demolished. Was attached to the cloister of Sant’Appolonia.
 

San Polo
 



Sant'Agostin to the left, San Boldo to the right,
San Giacomo dell’Orio to the rear.
San Boldo  


Originally dedicated to Sant’Agata, San Boldo is Venetian dialect for St Hubald. According to tradition built by the Tron and Zusto families in 1088, damaged by fire in 1105 enlarged in 1305.  Rebuilt, and reopened in 1739, after plans by Giorgio Massari. After the 18th C rebuilding works by Rocco Marconi, Paolo Piazza, Gaetano Zomponi and Francesco Pittoni could be found here.  closed 1808 and demolished in August 1826 or 1828, only the truncated 14th Century campanile remains, now attached to the Palazzo Grioni, also sometimes called the Palazzo San Boldo. (However, another source says that this is the Palazzo Businello S. Boldo and that the Palazzo Grimani  (aka Grioni?) was demolished. The church façade was to the right and faced the campo (see photo right) A 14th Century relief of Saint Agatha saved from the church is now in the Museo Patriarcale.



San Stin nr Frari
 

Venetian dialect for San Stefanino the Confessor. Original church built in 10th Century, destroyed by the fire in 1105, rebuilt in 1295. Had an Assumption by Tintoretto, now in the Accademia. Suppressed by the French  in 1810 and demolished soon after. The base of the campanile and the remains of a chapel still exist, and were used until quite recently as an upholsterer's workshop. Campo of same name (the church was on rio side) has a well head with a relief depicting St Stephen.
 








Sant'Agostin
 


Founded 1001 (959?) by the Bishop of Olivolo, Pietro Marturio Quintavalle, who left the church in his will to the future Bishops of Olivolo. Rebuilt twice after fires in 1149 and 1630, in the latter case to designs by Francesco Contino, with consecration following in 1691. Contained art by Bernardino, Molinari,  and Paris Bordone. Suppressed in 1808, closed in 1810. Used as a mill from 1813 (to ease the blockade) and then as a warehouse until it was demolished in 1873. Housing built on the site. During work to install sewage treatment tanks in 2000 the foundations of the last church were found and then four graves dating from the first church. They had been opened and desecrated by the builders of the second church, and the bones of about 20 other corpses were found mixed in.
 

















San Nicolò dei Frari (San Nicolò della Lattuga)
 

Given the diminutive San Nicoletto to differentiate it from San Nicolò del Lido, both churches being dedicated to St Nicholas of Myra.  Built around 1332 by Prosecutor Nicolò Lion, the man who discovered Doge Marin Falier's conspiracy in 1355. He had been miraculously cured of a serious illness by eating some lettuces from the Frari's friars' garden and so founded this small church and convent on the site of the garden and left it to them after his death. He died in 1356 and was buried in this church, his tomb being moved to the Frari after the church was closed in 1807. There had been major rebuilding in the 16th Century, with an altarpiece by Titian The Madonna and Child in Glory with Angels and Saints (see right) (now in the Vatican museum) installed in 1533-35. The church later acquired many works by Veronese, three of these works are now in the  Accademia and five in San Zanipolo. When the complex was closed in 1806 the monks moved to the Frari, the monastery being used by the French as a barracks for a while and used as a mill from 1813 (to ease the blockade) and demolished shortly after.
 



















Giudecca




A detail from the map of 1635 showing
Santa Croce to the west with San Giovanni Battista to the east, and the then-new church of Le Zitelle in the Centre.
 
San Giacomo della Giudecca 1343

The order of the Servi de Maria (Servites) based in Cannaregio were given money in 1338 by Marsilio da Carrara, Signore of Padua, to build a church called Santa Maria Novella on the Giudecca. The church was built on the site of an oratory dedicated to San Giacomo, and inherited the name. (Until 1999 the local Vaporetto stop was also called San Giacomo.) Before the building of the Redentore in the 16th Century this was the biggest church on Giudecca. Suppressed by the French and demolished in 1808. The monastery became a barracks in 1821 and was later demolished to make way for public housing.

Visible to right of The Church of the Redentore (detail right) by Canaletto (Manchester Art Gallery)
 





















San Giovanni Battista
Church and monastery founded in 1333 by Bonaccorso de Benedetti, a merchant from Lucca and occupied by Camaldolesi monks from San Mattia on Murano. The complex stood at the tip of Giudecca, opposite San Giorgio (see map above). It was completed in 1344, with the addition of a hospital for the poor in 1369. Church renovated and consecrated in 1371 by Paolo Foscari, the Bishop of Castello. Once had organ doors painted by Cima de Conigliano. By 1820 the church was no more.    
Santi Biagio e Cataldo
 Demolished to make way for the Mulino Stucky.












Sant'Angelo
giudecca Freely p256 Zorzi p105
 
A detail from the map of 1635

Santa Croce
 


 
Santa Chiara
Founded 1236, rebuilt several times, caught fire in 1574, consecrated during rebuilding work in 1620. Convent and church suppressed in 1806, convent converted into a military hospital 1819. All but the courtyard of the cloister demolished in second half of 19th Century - this is now part of the police headquarters.
 
Santa Croce
Established by refugees fleeing the Lombards in the 6th Century, becoming a parish church in 774. Monastery established early 12th Century by Cluniac monks from France. A scandal forced the monks to leave in 1341. After renovation the complex passed to the Poor Clares in 1460.

Restoration to plans by Antonio da Ponte from 1583. Church consecrated in 1600 and acquired by the patriarch. Suppressed in 1810, used as a warehouse and then demolished in the early 20th Century to make way for the grim and dusty Giardino Popadopoli. The church had nine altars and was richly decorated. A column from the church is all that remains, in the corner of the garden wall on Rio dei Tollentini
 






Canaletto sketch (above) with Santa Croce on the right is the probable source of the Bellotto painting (below).


 

The Islands
 


S. Giovanni dei Battuti
Murano

There was a Scuola di San Giovanni dei Battuti from which some panelling, carved by Pietro Morando, was removed and installed in the sacristy of San Pietro Martire on Murano. Use of the term 'Battuti', or 'the beaten', seems to suggest a flagellant order. Which might explain the expressions on the faces of the people in the carvings.



Santo Stefano Murano
 

 
San Cristoforo
by Pietro Lombardo, demolished to build San Michele cemetery

San Clemente works from it are in Sant’Appolonia

San Severo Tintoretto Crucifixion now in the Accademia.

Santa Marina
used as tavern in 19th Cent - Morris p74
   




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