User:Adebbas/sandbox

[Taken from Scuola Grande di San Marco Article]

"The Scuola Grande di San Marco is a building in Venice, Italy, designed by the well-known Venetian architects Pietro Lombardo, Mauro Codussi, and  Bartolomeo Bon. It was originally the home to one of the Scuole Grandi of Venice, or six major confraternities, but is now the city's hospital. It faces the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city."

Modification:

The Scuola Grande di San Marco is a historical building in Venice, Italy, that used to serve as a confraternity designed to give mutual aid to city dwellers. It also was a place where religious devotional ceremonies dedicated to one patron saint could take place outside the regular meetings of the church. The building itself was designed by many well-known Venetian architects including Pietro Lombardo, Mauro Codussi, and Bartolomeo Bon. Originally, it was home to one of the six major confraternities, the Scuole Grande of Venice, but today, it serves as one of the city's main hospitals. It faces the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city, and can be identified by its curved archways and its large vestibule in the center of the building.

Modification

During the 15th century gothic period, many scuole were built across the city of Venice. The scuole served as a religious confraternity of laypersons for Venice, and acted in many ways like a private guild. In general, there were two categories of scuole, the Scuole Piccole and the Scuole Grande. The Scuole Piccole were much more numerous and normally were home to fewer members than the six scuole grande which had 500-600 members. The scuole grande were built as an extension of extremely religious efforts, and focused much more on devotional activities. On the other hand, scuole piccole were smaller and much more intimate confraternities, that served a wider range of functions such as devotional practices, meeting places for groups of people in Venice, and locations where poor or misfortunate city dwellers could receive aid.

After being established, the scuole in Venice, and particularly the Scuola Grande di San Marco, began to take a much wider political role, asserting themselves as a powerful voice for the cittadini, or the citizen middle class of the city. The Scuola Grande di San Marco emphasized the contributions of the citizen class, and professional workers and took incredible pride in their members and their role in the political sphere.

"The edifice was built by the Confraternity of San Marco in 1260 to act as its seat. In 1485, however, it was destroyed by a large fire, and rebuilt in the following twenty years under a new design by Pietro Lombardo, with a fund established by the members. The façade, a masterwork with delicately decorated niches and pilasters, and with white or polychrome marble statues, was later completed by Mauro Codussi. While decorated with the polished marble elements of Renaissance classicism, the proliferation of arches and niches adds a retrogressive Byzantine flavor, an architectural feature of many conservative Venetian styles. One of the most notable aspects of the façade is the use of trompe-l'œil archways and portals on the ground floor, all executed in different types of marble. Between 2000 and 2005, the façade underwent conservation treatments funded by Save Venice Inc., the Getty Grant Program, and other donors."

Three of the greatest Italian explorers of the fifteenth century: Giosafat Barbaro, façade, and Alvise da Mosto were members of the Scuola.

Jacopo Tintoretto furnished the Scuola with three paintings Miracle of the Slave (also known as The Miracle of St. Mark, 1548), St Mark's Body Brought to Venice, painted between 1562 and 1566, both paintings are currently housed in the Gallerie dell'Accademia in Venice, and Finding of the body of St Mark also painted between 1562 and 1566, an now held in the Pinacoteca di Brera in Milan.

In 1819 it became an Austrian military hospital. It is now a civil hospital.

Since 2013 it is part of the Polo Museale della Scuola Grande di San Marco."