Hidden in the heart of Venice, the Scuola Grande di San Marco is a historic building. Built in 1260 by the Confraternity of San Marco, it served as the seat of one of the Scuole Grandi of Venice, or seven major confraternities. Destroyed by a fire in 1485, it was rebuilt under a new design by Pietro Lombardo. The façade is a masterwork with delicately decorated niches and pilasters, featuring white or polychrome marble statues.
The building's history includes the membership of three great Italian explorers from the fifteenth century who left records of their travels: Ambrogio Contarini, Giosafat Barbaro, and Alvise da Mosto. Although the Scuola once held works by Jacopo Tintoretto and Palma Vecchio, including Miracle of the Slave and St Mark's Body Brought to Venice, these are currently housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, while Finding of the body of St Mark is held in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.
In 1819, the building became an Austrian military hospital and is now a civil hospital. Since 2013, it has been part of the Polo Museale della Scuola Grande di San Marco.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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