CHURCH OF SAN GIORGIO DEI GRECI - Sestiere of Castello, XVI sec. -

Saint George of Greeks belongs to that part of Venetian history that arose from the huge tolerance of the Serenissima establishment towards all the peoples of the world. Greeks got the permit to build the church and to celebrate mass with the orthodox rite, at the end of fifteenth century. Constuction of the church was ended in the 1561 by architect Giannantonio Chiona. Church has a unic nave with a hemispheric dome placed in the centre of the bulding's plan, that was added later in the 1571. The interior gives hospitaity to many paintings by Greeks painters of sixteenth and seventeenth century as the Cretans Michele Damaschinòs and Emanuele Zane. The first left here Figurazioni di Santi and the 12 Feste that compose the Iconostasi placed on the back wall; the second painted here Abramo e Melchisedech placed in the central part of the Iconostasi. Atthached to the church is the Scuola di San Nicolò dei Greci built on a project by architect Longhena.