San Pietro di Castello (Venice)

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The island with the church of San Pietro di Castello, detail from the plan by Jacopo de 'Barbari (1460/1470 – before 1516, which shows the state around 1500)
Francesco Guardi , San Pietro di Castello

The Basilica of San Pietro di Castello is located on the small island of the same name in the extreme northeast of Venice , in the Sestiere Castello . This island was once called Olivolo and was believed to be the first fortified settlement in early Venice. The Roman Catholic Church bears the title of a minor basilica and is the co- cathedral of the Patriarch of Venice . The current building dates from the 16th century and stands on a place where a church was already in the 7th century . 1451–1807 it was the cathedral of Venice and the spiritual and administrative center of religious Venice.

The leaning bell tower , completely clad in Istrian limestone , was built in 1482 by Mauro Codussi . To the south of the church is the former palace of the Patriarch of Venice. After being converted into a barracks in the 19th century , it is now in a desolate state. A pre-Gothic baptistery existed between the campanile and the bishop's palace until 1810 . The peripheral location of San Pietro reflects the minor role played by the Bishop of Venice compared to state power .

history

There was already a castrum in front of the church , which probably controlled the entrances to Sant'Erasmo and San Nicolò di Lido . The island was continuously inhabited from around 600, which is the exception in the northern lagoon. An accelerated rise in sea level , as can be observed in many places in the lagoon , was attempted to counteract by increasing and expanding the settlement area. In a house from the second half of the 7th century, coins of the emperors Herakleios I (610–640) and Constans II (655–658) were found, as well as three lead seals . Apparently the inhabitants had to give up the island in the 8th century.

The oldest previous building, dedicated to the Byzantine saints Sergius and Bacchus , dates back to the 7th century; the legend after it was founded by the Holy Magnus of Oderzo . At that time there were only a few scattered settlements on the lagoon islands, but they had grown due to refugees. In 775/76 the church became the seat of the bishop of Olivolo , as Castello was called at that time.

Led by the Mastalici family, the Doge Giovanni I. Particiaco was captured, shaved and clipped in 836 after leaving the church and deported to Grado, where he soon died. In 841 the cathedral was re-established by Bishop Orso Particiaco and now consecrated to the Apostle Peter . On December 25, 1120, a fire destroyed the church and the neighboring houses. A new, larger building was erected.

In 1451, despite its peripheral location, San Pietro became the seat of the Patriarch of Venice and intensive construction work began. The campanile was built in 1480, and in 1558 Andrea Palladio was commissioned to redesign the church, his first work in Venice. However, the commissioning patriarch Vincenzo Diedo died before the plans could be carried out. From 1594 to 1596 the facade was built by Francesco Smeraldi , a pupil of Palladio. Presumably for lack of money, however, Palladio's original design was greatly simplified.

In 1807 the Basilica di San Marco became , according to Napoleon's will , the official cathedral of Venice and San Pietro now co-cathedral. The attached monastery was abandoned on the orders of Eugène de Beauharnais , Viceroy of Italy, and used as a powder magazine . After 1807, San Pietro was increasingly neglected and damaged by Austrian incendiary bombs in the First World War . A thorough restoration of the basilica, which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, took place in 1970 . The Church is a member of the Chorus Association of the Churches of Venice .

description

Facade of San Pietro di Castello

The facade unmistakably shows Andrea Palladio's handwriting , in particular the reference to Il Redentore is clear. The presence of one portal in each of the side aisles next to the main portal is unusual. The three-aisled interior in the shape of a Latin cross , with a main nave and two side aisles, is surmounted by a mighty dome. The church is lit by thermal windows. The construction was done by Giovanni Girolamo Grapiglia , the builder of the Palazzo Loredan . Structurally, the church shows similarities with Palladios San Giorgio Maggiore . The dome, which was renewed after a fire in 1825, was destroyed by an Austrian bombardment during the First World War and then rebuilt.

Interior

inner space
So-called cathedra of St. Peter

The artistic design of the interior contrasts with the strict architecture of Palladio and essentially dates from the 17th century. The following artists worked here: Francesco Ruschi , Pietro Ricchi , Pietro Liberi , Melchior Barthel , Clemente Moli , Gregorio Lazzarini , Antonio Molinari , Daniel Heinz , Giovanni Segela , Antonio Belucci , Girolamo Pellegrini , Francesco Solimena , Michele Ungaro . There are only a few remains of the ancient church, which was destroyed by fire. The following works of art are particularly noteworthy:

literature

  • Areli Marina: From the Myth to the Margins: The Patriarch's Piazza at San Pietro di Castello in Venice , in: Renaissance Quarterly 64 (2011) 353-429 ( HTML on cambridge.org).
  • Herbert Rosendorfer : Church Guide Venice , 2nd ed., EA Seemann 2013, pp. 146–149.
  • Ennio Concina, Piero Codato, Vittorio Pavan: Churches in Venice. Hirmer Verlag, Munich 1996. ISBN 3-7774-7010-4

Web links

Commons : San Pietro di Castello (Venice)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefano Tuzzato: Le strutture lignee altomedievali a Olivolo (S. Pietro di Castello - Venezia) , in: Bianca Maria Scarfì: Studi di archeologia della X. Regio , L'Erma di Bretschneider, Rome 1994, pp. 479-487, here : P. 479.

Coordinates: 45 ° 26 '4 "  N , 12 ° 21' 35"  E