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Frari Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari San Cassiano San Giacometto San Giacomo di Rialto San Giovanni Elemosinaro San Giovanni Evangelista San Polo San Rocco San Silvestro San Tomà San Tommaso Sant’Aponal |
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Frari |
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History The Franciscan friars (or Frari) came to Venice in 1222, but had no permanent home until Doge Jacopo Tiepolo gave them some land in 1236, adjacent to the abandoned Benedictine abbey they were inhabiting. The church that they built in 1250, extending the abbey, was much smaller than the one we see today, and faced in the opposite direction. The current church was begun in 1340, but work was slow - the old church was still being used in 1415. But it was demolished shortly after this date to complete the East end of the nave. The new church was finished in 1442, and consecrated in 1492. It’s plan is attributed to Fra Scipione Bon, who has a tomb in the church. The monastery dates from 1256, being renovated after a fire in 1390 and having two cloisters, one by Jacopo Sansovino and the other attributed to Andrea Palladio. The church The exuberant, but brick-plain, Gothic façade contrasts with the more restrained façade on the Dominican’s San Zanipolo, built at the same time. Stand in the campo at it’s north-eastern front –the one with the canal running through it - to see the sequence of three entrances and three oculi windows (see photo below left) with the stout campanile rising above the middle one. In the Campo San Rocco at the other end you can admire the Gothic apse, as you indulge in a gelati and listen to the buskers. It’s mouldings were said by Ruskin to be the source of similar designs on the Palazzo Ducale. Interior The twelve huge round pillars between the nave and the aisles represent the apostles, but the division of the nave and aisles is very unobtrusive, giving the impression of a single space dissected up high by tie-beams. The tie-beams are there because of the brick vaulting – a dicey choice of material in a sinking city. And here the bricks have been painted to mask their humble nature. Dominating the centre of the church is the dark wood of the monumental monks’ choir (a rare survival in Venice) separated from the nave by a carved marble screen, said to be the work of Pietro Lombardo. The choir stalls feature fine marquetry by Marco Cozzi, depicting views of an ‘ideal city’. The nave features some mighty overpowering tombs, the most exhausting being the one for Doge Giovanni Pesaro, designed by Longhena, with the four huge moors bent under a weight of allegorical figures under a canopy of carved ‘brocade’. The pyramidal tomb to Canova is a far calmer and lovelier thing, if not exactly unwacky either. It's design was copied by his pupils from the memorial Canova created for Maria Christina, daughter of Empress Maria Theresia, in the Augustinerkirche in Vienna (see photo below left). His heart is preserved in a barely-visible porphyry urn behind the sinister open door, although the rest of him is buried in Possagno. Opposite is the tomb of Titian. According to the parish records of San Canciano he died in August 1576 of a fever, but it was probably the plague. He was buried here despite funeral services being prohibited during times of plague for fear of contagion. The tomb was built in the 19th Century. From the Chapter House, beyond the Sacristy, it’s possible to glimpse the Cloister of the Holy Trinity, one of the two cloisters of the original convent which have housed the Venetian state archives since 1814 (after a period, post-suppression, of use as a barracks). The other is called the Cloister of St Anthony and both are unfortunately usually closed to visitors. Art highlights Claims are often made for the Frari as almost a museum of Renaissance art in Venice, and it certainly contains some of the finest church art in town. Titian’s Assumption over the main altar dominates the church, and is said to be the largest altarpiece in Venice. Ruskin said that this painting was 'not one whit the better for being either large or gaudy in colour' and complained of its excess of 'fox colour.' The friars who commissioned it had their doubts too - telling Titian that his apostles were too big - but they stopped complaining when Charles V expressed an interest in buying it. It spent some time during the nineteenth century as the highlight of the Accademia gallery before returning here after the First World War. Along with this early triumph - it was one of Titian's first altarpieces - there's the slightly later and much quieter, but no less impressive Pesaro altarpiece, which Ruskin thought to be the artist's best work in Venice. These career highlights, along with the painter’s tomb, gives rise to this being known as Titian’s church. In the Sacristy there’s also a Giovanni Bellini altarpiece to contemplate at length, a Virgin and Child with Saints (also known as the Frari Madonna). It has that same power to calm as his later altarpiece in San Zaccaria, despite a somewhat overpowering frame, probably designed by Bellini himself and carved by Jacopo da Faenza, and a bit too much distance between it and us. Bellini was reputedly just not good at painting movement, which 'limitation' gives us something to rest in front of (chairs are provided) after his pupil Titian’s more kinetic works. The Franciscans tended to stress the Virgin's exalted and chosen state, as the Titian Assumption illustrates. This Bellini seems more in keeping with the Dominicans' idea of a more human Virgin but he has, probably at the Franciscans' request, painted St Benedict with his bible open at the first chapter of Ecclesiastes, which is the strongest source for the controversial theory of the immaculate conception. The Sacristy was the Pesaro family chapel when, in 1478, Pietro Pesaro's sons commissioned Bellini to paint the altarpiece in honour of their mother, Francescina Tron. The two saints are the son's namesakes. Two sculptures of John the Baptist, one by Donatello and the other by Sansovino, are equally impressive, as are works by Bartolomeo Vivarini (including his last, in the last lateral chapel to the right of the altar) and his nephew Alvise (whose final work is to be found in the first lateral chapel from the left). Campanile 69m (224 ft) electromechanical bells Work on it began in 1361, to a design by Jacopo Celaga, and completed by his son Pietro Paolo in 1396. It still looks like it did on the Barbari map (see left). It's amongst the tallest in Venice (being as tall as San Franceso della Vigna's). Restored in 1871 after subsidence, with the foundations further reinforced in 1903. The three-light belfry is surmounted by an Istrian-stone balustrade and an octagonal drum. The church (not) in art Canaletto never painted the Frari. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 9.00 to 6.00 Sundays: 1.00 to 6.00 A Chorus Church Vaporetto San Toma map |
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History The first church here was said to have been an oratory built in 726 and dedicated to St Cecilia. Rebuildings followed in 926, 1106 (after the fire), 1205 and 1350, with this church consecrated in 1376. Rebuilding in the early 17th Century to its current internal appearance, this work finishing in 1663. The portico was demolished in the 19th Century when the church acquired its external appearance. The church Outside it just looks like a big box. The rio-facing façade misses its portico and is encroached on by buildings. It retains its Byzantine-era doorposts, possibly from the original church. Entry is usually now via the small side-door onto the campo. A visit The church has no façade and a very plain exterior (see above right) but makes up for this inside. The interior is highly decorated but manages to stay this side of exhausting, despite having an altar by Meyring and Nardo, the first being responsible for the decoration of San Moise, the church that makes you say 'blimey!' His work here is relatively restrained as are the rather splendid Venetian chandeliers. The use of pale colours generally lightens the interior, even the heavily decorated ceiling, with its paintings by a Tiepolo-follower called Costantino Cedini, including one of San Cassiano in Glory. Even the Tintorettos here are likeable and exceptional, with a Crucifixion, Resurrection and Descent Into Limbo ranged in sequence around the chancel. St John in the famous and superior Crucifixion even gestures comic-strip-like into the next 'frame' - the Resurrection over the altar. Then in The Descent into Limbo Jesus meets up with Adam and a very sexy Eve. I had to ask, but access to the small chapel half way along the left hand wall is worth it as it is an odd little jewel-box of a room - all marble and inlaid semi-precious stones. Commissioned in 1746 by Abbot Carlo del Medico it has an altarpiece (1763) and ceiling fresco by Giambattista Pitoni. It also contains an early 18th Century painting of the Martyrdom of San Cassiano by Antonio Balestra, and yes those children are hacking at him and stabbing him with pens. He was a teacher martyred by his pupils using pens, and so is now the patron saint of schoolteachers. Lost Art The San Cassiano Altarpiece by Antonello da Messina was commissioned by Pietro Bon and was housed in the old Gothic church. It brought oil painting to Venice, probably, and was massively influential in introducing the layout of the typical 'Venetian' altarpiece. Its influence on Giovanni Bellini, with its use of colour and shade to form features, is also debated as he had been heading in this direction already. It disappeared sometime in the early part of the 17th Century - the disappearance is first mentioned in 1648. The painting reappeared in the collection of Archduke Leopold William in Brussels, attributed to Giovanni Bellini. In 1700 the three fragments that remain (there were originally eight saints) (see below right) found their way to Vienna, and are now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Almost lost was the Tintoretto Crucifixion. In Venice in 1852 John Ruskin wrote a letter asking for £7000 from the National Gallery in London to acquire it 'for the nation'. The Tintoretto Marriage at Cana was included in the deal, for £5000. He never got the money and so the paintings remain in their Venetian churches. He presumably sold this shameful asset-stripping to his conscience because his opinion was that the Tintorettos were all the church had going for it (see below). Campanile 43m (140 ft) electromechanical bells It's sturdiness suggests that it may have been built as a defensive tower and later acquired by the original church. Rebuilt 1295 with a Gothic belfry added 1350. Ruskin says This church must on no account be missed, as it contains three Tintorets, of which one, the "Crucifixion," is among the finest in Europe. There is nothing worth notice in the building itself, except the jamb of an ancient door (left in the Renaissance building, facing the canal), which has been given among the examples of Byzantine jambs; and the traveller may therefore devote his entire attention to the three pictures in the chancel. Local colour In 1488 this church's entrance was ordered to be chained shut, and the porch of Santa Maria Mater Domini was sealed off, 'after the twenty-third hour' to 'stop sodomites using it as a meeting place'. Local pastry shops were also said to be dens of such iniquity. The funeral procession of Caterina Corner, the ex-Queen of Cypress, in 1509 started here and made its way over a bridge of boats to the church of Santi Apostoli where she was buried. Campo San Cassiano was the site of the first public opera house in the world which opened in 1637. It was demolished in 1812 having been badly damaged by several fires.
The church in fiction
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The symbolic site of Venice's birth. History Traditionally said to be the oldest church in Venice - an inscription on the left-hand pillar in the chancel says 421. Legend goes even further and claims that the church was consecrated at noon on the 21st March 421, this being the date that the republic used to celebrate as Venice's birthday. It's also supposedly the date of The Annunciation. Information about the rebuilding is vague. The current church was built sometime during the reign of Doge Domenico Selvo (1071-84) and reconsecrated in 1177. It survived the fire of 1514 which destroyed most of the market, but must have been damaged as it underwent considerable restoration in 1531 (according to a plaque by the entrance) and again in 1599-1601. This latter work improved the lighting and installed some heavy baroque altars, but the original mosaics were lost. The choir on the inside façade was removed in 1933. This has always been seen as the 'market church' and has altars dedicated to various guilds of merchants and craftsmen. An cross-shaped inscription from the 12th Century on the outside of the apse (below left) tells merchants to be honest in their dealings and precise in their weights. The church now hosts concerts where Vivaldi's Four Seasons is performed most nights. The church Façade dominated by one of only two wooden Gothic church porches to remain intact in Venice (the other being at San Nicolò dei Mendicoli). It was restored in 1958. Also the large and ever-wrong 24-hour clock above the 17th Century windows, which was put up in 1410 and restored in 1749. A visit Hemmed in by the market bustle. It's a dinky little Greek-Cross shaped church with a cupola, some charm, but no great art. Most of the city's original 70 parish churches would have been this shape originally, if not this small. This one was reconstructed too, of course, but retains its original shape. The Greek marble columns with their Veneto-Byzantine capitals remain from the 11th Century church. Campanile The original was destroyed by fire in 1514. The current Roman-style tower was built in 1749. Under the bells is a Gothic relief of the Virgin and Child from the early 16th Century. Local colour Opposite the church you'll find (usually buried under a pile of boxes and rotting vegetables) the 16th Century granite statue of Gobbo di Rialto (the Hunchback of Rialto) - a crouching figure supporting a flight of stairs and and a plaque (see below left). The Republic's decrees where once read from this pedestal and men convicted of petty crimes would run the gauntlet of beatings naked from Piazza San Marco to this statue where the punishment would end when the criminal kissed the statue. Shakespeare is said to have named the clown Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice after the statue. The church in art Canaletto's San Giacomo di Rialto (see below) is in the Gemäldegalerie, Dresden. Opening times Monday to Saturday: 9.30-12.00, 4.00-6.00 Vaporetto San Silvestro or Rialto map  |
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San
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A church very much overshadowed by its scuola, a gem of the renaissance admired even by Ruskin. History Founded in 970 by the Badoer family. Rebuilt in 1443-75, restored in late 16th Century by Simone Sorella and again in 1758-9 by Bernardino Maccaruzzi. More work in the 19th Century. The Scuola was founded in 1211 and was housed in the church of Sant’Aponal until it moved in 1301 to this church and to an ospizio (asylum) building opposite, again at the expanse of the Badoer family. The scuola building too was rebuilt in the mid-15th Century. It was suppressed by Napoleon in 1797, but a new confraternity was established in 1857 and thrives still. The screen spanning the campielo between the church and the scuola, created around 1481, is usually attributed to Pietro Lombardo. It features an eagle, the symbol of St John the Baptist in its semi-circular pediment - the original relief of the saint himself is now in the Berlin Museum. Interior Contains sarcophagi of the Badoer family, a Domenico Tintoretto Crucifixion and works by Marieschi. Lost art The famous sequence of nine paintings of The Miracles of the True Cross by Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini, and others, now in the Accademia gallery, were painted for the Scuola here. Campanile 30m (98ft) manual bells Also rebuilt by Maccaruzzi in 1759. The church in art Courtyard of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista (1913), an oil painting by John Singer Sargent. An unusually (for him) uncropped view, it is a head-on view of the screen. It excludes the iron railings in front of the screen, but shows their stone bases. Ruskin said (of the Scuola) A fine example of the Byzantine Renaissance, mixed with remnants of good late Gothic. The little exterior cortile is sweet in feeling, and Lazari praises highly the work of the interior staircase. Vaporetto San Toma Opening times
The Scuola is open during events and concerts, and by
arrangement.
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A church that's 'seen life'. History This church, dedicated to the Apostle Paul, was founded in 837 by the doges Pietro Tradonico and Orso Partecipazio and rebuilt in the 12th and 15th centuries. Some heavy-handed restoration, additions and Gothic losses in the early years of the 19th Century by David Rossi were partly reversed in 1927 revealing, for example, the 15th Century wooden ship's keel roof and restoring the rose window which dates from the same period. The church The apses face onto Campo San Polo and have several carvings, including the 14th Century relief of The Enthroned Madonna and Child with St Peter and St Paul. A visit Art highlights
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Overshadowed by the Scuola History The church A visit Opening times 8.00-12.30, 3.00-5.00
Vaporetto
San Toma
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History Founded in the 9th Century, this church was rebuilt in the first half of the 15th, being consecrated in 1422 and incorporating the nearby oratory of Ognissanti. There was a further rebuilding in the first half of the 17th Century and then again, and more completely, in 1837-43. A large part of the altar of Saint Joseph, including a cornice and three angels, collapsed on the night before Easter Sunday 1820. Subsequent surveys showed that the church was in danger of falling down. Rebuilding began in 1836 to plans by Lorenzo Santi, and was continued by Giovanni Meduna, following Santi's death. Reconsecration took place in 1850. Aside from the campanile no trace remains of the earlier structures, except for a column fragment with a capital of Veneto-Byzantine style built into the wall facing the Rio Terrà. The church The façade dates from 1909 and is the work of Giuseppe Sicher. A 17th Century statue of St Sylvester stands in a niche over the door. Through an iron grill to the right inside is the Scuola dei Mercanti di Vino, which has a chapel upstairs with 18th Century frescoes, depicting three episodes from the life of Saint Helena, by Gaspare Diziani, a pupil of Ricci. You'll need to ask the sacristan to let you in. The scuola of the mastellai (coopers) was once attached to this church too, but was destroyed around 1820. A visit A very unarchaic church mostly dating from the early 19th Century when it was rebuilt in a relatively unembellished neoclassical style. It's big, neo-classical in style, and has a flat ceiling painted with coffering. A lot of the paintings the church once contained have been lost, but there's still Tintoretto's Baptism of Christ (restored in 2004) and opposite it an appealingly bright and Bellini-esque St Thomas à Becket Enthroned. It's by Girolamo da Santacroce from 1520, but with a couple more dingy flanking saints (John the Baptist and Francis) added in the 19th Century by one Leonardo Gavagnin. Each of these paintings is the wrong size and shape for the spaces they inhabit, suggesting that their reinstallation into the rebuilt church was forced on the architect late in the process. Lost art Veronese's fine The Adoration of the Kings, now in the National Gallery in London, was painted for San Silvestro where it remained until the 19th century rebuilding, after which it was found to be too big, or so the official account goes. The fruits of more recent investigations have suggested that the decorative plans post-rebuilding never included the Veronese, and it is seems that the fact of money being sorely needed, and that ecclesiastical fashions had changed, may have had more than a little bearing on the sale.  Campanile 47m (153ft) manual bells Destroyed by an earthquake on 25th January 1347, rebuilt 1422, restored 1840. Hear the bells Local colour Giorgione died in the house opposite (no. 1022) (the Palazzo Valier) during the plague of 1510. He was said to have painted designs on the wall to advertise his skills. But Lorenzetti says that this is only the 'supposed abode' of the painter, who 'lived instead perhaps' at no. 1091 to the left. Opening times Update 2010 - church closed due to bits of falling ceiling. Services are being held in the 16th Century albergo of the Scuola of the wine merchants on the campo (see right and below). The campanile was sheathed in scaffolding too. Monday - Saturday: 7.30-11.30, 4.00-6.00
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   This print by Carlevarijs is presumably of San Toma's previous façade, but the caption says that the architect is Alessandro Tremignon. |
History Dedicated to St Thomas the Apostle, the church was founded in 917 with money from the Miani family, and restored in 1395. It was enlarged in 1508 with more work in 1652. The façade from the 1652 rebuilding, by Giuseppe Sardi, probably to a design by Longhena, was replaced (as it was about to fall down) with a classical façade by Francesco Bognolo in 1742-55. In a city not unobsessed by religious relics, this church is said to have once had 10,000 saintly bits and a dozen intact holy corpses. It was a parish church until 1810 and taken over by Minorite friars from 1835-1867. Closed in 1984 for restoration and yet to reopen, although the scaffolding is long off. Exterior On the left side of the church there's a marble relief of the Madonna della Misericordia probably taken from church of Santa Maria della Carita (now part of the Accademia Gallery) at the end of the 19th Century. Above the side door on the Campiello del Piovan is the tomb of Giovanni Priuli of 1375 (see photo below left) moved here from inside the church when the façade was rebuilt in 1742.
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Campanile 26m (85ft) manual bells
