Scuola Grande di S. Giovanni Evangelista

Hours: 10.00/16.00, only Sunday and Monday. Closed on Easter.
Ticket:
Phone: ++39-041-7182347
Address: Campiello San Giovanni, San Polo - Venezia

Becouse of the paintings dedicated to this School we are sure it was the most important non-denominational institution in Venice in the past. San Giovanni evangelista was founded in the 1261 and soon became famous when it received the Cross's relic by an official of the Cyprus kingdom in the 1369. The fact was so important that many paintings, kept at the Accademia Gallery testified the moment: Processione della Croce in Piazza S.Marco, Il miracolo della Croce al Ponte di S.Lorenzo , both by Gentile Bellini  and  Il miracolo della Reliquia della Croce  by Vittore Carpaccio: paintings important both for religious meaning and historical reconstruction.
At the same time faithfuls took charge of give to the School an aspect worthy of its fame: in the 1415 the School was almost finished becouse all the paintings were still ordered, while to see the marvellous marble door the faithfuls had to wait till the end of fifteenth century when Bartolomeo Bon realized it (see S.Stefano Church and Ca' D'oro Musem) putting on it a semicircular pediment. This door was the entrance to the courtyard that was bordered on the left handside by the School and on the right handside by the old church.
As for other Schools, most important element in the architectural structure was the stairs leading to the upper floor: in the 1498 Mauro Codussi, one of the most famous architect working in Venice in that period, realized the project characterized by a mullioned window at the intermediate floor, a typical element of Codussi's architecture. After the Campoformio treaty that gave Venice to Austrian Empire, the School seemed to be destined for demolition but the importance of the School for Venice during its history incited some venetian citizen to buy it and give it to the city.
At the upper floor it's possible admire works by Tintoretto and Sante Peranda, Tiepolo, Diziani and Marieschi.