gkert
Umida depressione
The place where San Francesco della Vigna church and its monastery rise today was previously kept for a vineyard (the friars keep vineyards and a real historic botanical garden overlooking the northern lagoon even to this day), or for a big timber storage, as a “mark where archery was practiced” and a “riding school”, manège for noble Venetians which could house up to seventy horses. In 1253, this terrain was donated to the young friars of San Francesco by the son of the doge Pietro Ziani.
In 1534 the doge Andrea Gritti laid the first stone of the new church of San Francesco, in order to reaffirm his own intention to implement a program of building improvement in the area of Castello nearby the magnificent Arsenal, at the time a densely populated area in need of a big church.
The monastery buildings are set between the church and the lagoon, which is overlooked by a secluded cloister now transformed into a garden, and they represent one of the most interesting examples of Venetian gothic architecture, dating from the 14th century.
Two cloisters – besides the secluded one – are consecutive, and the bigger one has a direct access to the external square, since it had cemeterial function, given the presence of numerous tombstones belonging to Venetian patrician families such as Contarini, Zorzi, Correr, Gradenigo, just to mention some, and to distinguished figures.
The porticoes are constituted by a series of brick arches resting upon supple stone columns, whose simple capital is surmounted by a kind of low dosseret. On the upper level is the floor of dormitories, whose distributive system by cells clearly appears from the continuous series of small windows equally distanced one from each other.
Legend has it that Saint Mark the Evangelist found here a shelter during a night storm, and in that occasion he had a vision of an angel who greeted him with these words: “Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus” (“Peace upon you, Mark, my dear evangelist”). These are the words which will later become the motto of the Serenissima, found on the Gospel the lion holds between its claws.
Nowadays these cloisters still hold a very important function, since they host art installations of the Biennale. Moreover, during summer nights concerts of classical music are held here, in an atmosphere of great imagination and magic. In case you are looking for simpler pleasures, you can take a break reading a book, protected from summer sultriness by the shady arcades, caressed by a breeze coming from the northern lagoon.
Freely taken from: www.meetingvenice.it/itinerari-venezia/itinerari-cultural...
Umida depressione
The place where San Francesco della Vigna church and its monastery rise today was previously kept for a vineyard (the friars keep vineyards and a real historic botanical garden overlooking the northern lagoon even to this day), or for a big timber storage, as a “mark where archery was practiced” and a “riding school”, manège for noble Venetians which could house up to seventy horses. In 1253, this terrain was donated to the young friars of San Francesco by the son of the doge Pietro Ziani.
In 1534 the doge Andrea Gritti laid the first stone of the new church of San Francesco, in order to reaffirm his own intention to implement a program of building improvement in the area of Castello nearby the magnificent Arsenal, at the time a densely populated area in need of a big church.
The monastery buildings are set between the church and the lagoon, which is overlooked by a secluded cloister now transformed into a garden, and they represent one of the most interesting examples of Venetian gothic architecture, dating from the 14th century.
Two cloisters – besides the secluded one – are consecutive, and the bigger one has a direct access to the external square, since it had cemeterial function, given the presence of numerous tombstones belonging to Venetian patrician families such as Contarini, Zorzi, Correr, Gradenigo, just to mention some, and to distinguished figures.
The porticoes are constituted by a series of brick arches resting upon supple stone columns, whose simple capital is surmounted by a kind of low dosseret. On the upper level is the floor of dormitories, whose distributive system by cells clearly appears from the continuous series of small windows equally distanced one from each other.
Legend has it that Saint Mark the Evangelist found here a shelter during a night storm, and in that occasion he had a vision of an angel who greeted him with these words: “Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus” (“Peace upon you, Mark, my dear evangelist”). These are the words which will later become the motto of the Serenissima, found on the Gospel the lion holds between its claws.
Nowadays these cloisters still hold a very important function, since they host art installations of the Biennale. Moreover, during summer nights concerts of classical music are held here, in an atmosphere of great imagination and magic. In case you are looking for simpler pleasures, you can take a break reading a book, protected from summer sultriness by the shady arcades, caressed by a breeze coming from the northern lagoon.
Freely taken from: www.meetingvenice.it/itinerari-venezia/itinerari-cultural...