Church of Venice...
St. Mark's Basilica
The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint
Mark (officially known in Italian as the
Basilica Cattedrale Patriachale di San
Marco and commonly known as Saint
Mark's Basilica) is the cathedral church
of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of
Venice, northern Italy. It is the most
famous of the city's churches and one
of the best known examples of
Byzantine architecture. It lies on Piazza
San Marco (in the San Marco sestiere or
district) adjacent and connected to the
Doge's Palace. Originally it was the
"chapel" of the Venetian rulers, and not
the city's cathedral. Since 1807 it has
been the seat of the Patriarch of
Venice, archbishop of the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. For its
opulent design, gilded Byzantine
mosaics, and its status as a symbol of
Venetian wealth and power, from the
11th century on the building was known
by the nickname Chiesa d'Oro (Church
of gold).
Santa Maria dei Miracoli
Santa Maria dei Miracoli is a church in
the sestiere of Cannaregio, in
Venice, Italy. Also known as the
"marble church", it is one of the best
examples of the early Venetian
Renaissance including colored
marble, a false colonnade on the
exterior walls (pilasters), and a
semicircular pediment. The main
altar is reached by a series of steps.
The circular facade windows recall
Donato Bramante's churches in
Milan.
Built between 1481 and 1489 by Pietro
Lombardo to house a miraculous
icon of the Virgin Mary. The plans
for the church were expanded in
1484 to include the construction of
a new convent for nuns of St. Clare
to the east. The convent was
connected to the gallery of the
church by an enclosed walkway
that was later destroyed.
The interior is enclosed by a wide
barrel vault, with a single nave. The
nave is dominated by an
ornamental marble stair rising
between two pulpits, with statues
by Tullio Lombardo, Alessandro
Vittoria and Nicolò di Pietro. The
vaulted ceiling is divided into fifty
coffers decorated with paintings of
prophets, a work by Girolamo
Pennacchi's contemporaries,
Vincenzo dalle Destre and
Lattanzio da Rimini.
San Zanipolo
The Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo,
known in the Venetian dialect as
San Zanipolo, is a church in Venice,
northern Italy. One of the largest
churches in the city, it has the status
of a minor basilica. After the 15th
century the funeral services of all of
Venice's doges were held here,
and twenty-five doges are buried in
the church.
Santa Maria della Salute
The Basilica of St Mary of Health (Italian: Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute), commonly known
simply as the Salute, is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located in the Dorsoduro
sestiere of the Italian city of Venice. It stands on a narrow finger of land between the Grand Canal
and the Bacino di San Marco making the church visible when entering the Piazza San Marco from
the water. The Salute is part of the parish of the Gesuati and is the most recent of the so-called
Plague-churches.
In 1630 Venice experienced an
unusually devastating outbreak of
the plague. As a votive offering for
the city's deliverance from the
pestilence, the Republic of Venice
vowed to build and dedicate a
church to Our Lady of Health (or of
Deliverance, Italian: Salute). The
church was designed in the then
fashionable Palladian style by
Baldassare Longhena, a pupil of
the Venetian architect Andrea
Palladio, and construction began in
1631. Most of the objects of art
housed in the church bear
references to the Black Death.