The church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli is a little jewel in the heart of Venice.
Over the centuries, the church has become an essential social venue.
Today, I'm going to tell you all about this place.
Here we go!
Santa Maria Dei Miracoli: article summary
Santa Maria dei Miracoli: in brief
The church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli was originally built to house a small miraculous image of the Virgin and Child painted around 1409. This canvas is traditionally attributed to Nicolò di Pietro. Recently, researchers have also suggested that the painting could be by Zanino di Pietro.
Commissioned by Francesco Amadi, the painting found itself displayed outside on a street near the Amadi house. Here, it quickly became a popular votive image for those who lived in the neighbourhood. Over seventy years later, miracles are still attributed to the image.
Religious and political leaders agreed that a small chapel should be built to house the painting. Thanks to offerings left by those who had visited the miraculous Madonna and Child, funds were readily available. to build such a structure.
Construction in constant evolution
The church hired Pietro Lombardo to begin construction between 1481 and 1485. In 1485, Pope Sixtus IV issued a papal bull authorizing the construction of a larger church in honor of this Madonna. He also ordered that a convent be built there.
Pietro Lombardo received a new contract to expand the modest chapel into a church. The interior and exterior are adorned with colorful marble pieces, and these marble slabs surround finely carved cornices and several reliefs of saints and prophets. Many of these are the work of Pietro Lombardo himself.
The Miracoli coffered ceiling, in painted and gilded wood. The latter, probably added in later phases of the church's construction, dates from before 1520. A staircase leads to the raised high altar, where the original votive image is displayed, decorated with sculptures by Tullio Lombardo.
Santa Maria dei Miracoli: unprecedented conservation efforts
Venice's restoration efforts at the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli were complete. After funding several years of preliminary research to determine the exact nature of the damage and degradation of the building, a complete overhaul of the church began in 1990.
Working simultaneously on the marble slabs and the sculptural decoration of the building's exterior and interior, the restorers systematically desalted and cleaned the church's stones from 1990 to 1997.
Another major aspect of the campaign was the preservation of the coffered ceiling with its fifty-two wooden panels depicting saints and prophets and the discovery of frescoes of sibyls in the spandrels near the ceiling.
Every corner of the church restored
Virtually every part of the church has undergone a thorough examination.including the presbytery's intarsia doors, the bronze statuary and candelabras on the high altar, and the wooden panel of the Miraculous Virgin from which the church takes its name.
A watertight rose window is added to the façade, and the church pews undergo major repairs. The campaign concludes with the conservation of the campanile's bells.
This is still one of the world's largest must-see sights in Venice. During your trip to Venice, I advise you to let yourself be impressed by its beauty. You'll never leave with magical memories.
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