Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore / Church of the Most Holy Redeemer (Venice)
N 45° 25.518 E 012° 19.950
33T E 291322 N 5033659
Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (Church of the Most Holy Redeemer), located at waterfront of La Giudecca island, is another masterpiece of notable Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio which greatly decorates the Venice's magnificent skyline...
Waymark Code: WMAETG
Location: Veneto, Italy
Date Posted: 01/06/2011
Views: 17
Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore is one of Venice's two famous plague churches (the second is Santa Maria della Salute). The city was so vulnerable to disease that it erected these magnificent churches in supplication and in thanks for relief. This Renaissance church by Andrea Palladio dates back to a 16th-century bout of plague, during which the Venetian senate made a vow to dedicate a grand church to Christ the Redeemer. Il Redentore, as also called, was built on the island La Giudecca, where it exchanges fine views across the water with San Marco and the Zattere.
Il Redentore was deliberately sited where it would become part of the skyline seen from the natural centre of Venice - Piazza di San Marco. The façade of white marble, surmounted by a large dome between small towers, incorporates a dramatic flight of steps, and resembles a series of superimposed temples. The whitewashed interior is less dazzling than the exterior, but is another an exercise in restrained classical magnificence. Apparently it was too magnificent for the tastes of its original guardians, the Capuchin monks.