User:Rdantonioo/Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice

= Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice = The Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli is a church in the sestiere of Cannaregio, in Venice, Italy. Also known as the "marble church", it is one of the best examples of the early Venetian Renaissance including colored marble, a false colonnade on the exterior walls (pilasters), and a semicircular pediment. It is also renowned for its early usage of sculpture, and for the miraculous painting Virgin and Child that it was built to house.

History
The Church of Santa Maria dei Micacoli was built between 1481 and 1489 by sculptor, architect, and contractor Pietro Lombardo. Initially, the building was constructed to be a small chapel with the primary purpose of housing a miraculous painting, the 1409 Virgin and Child. However in 1485 Pope Sixtus IV issued a papal bull calling for a larger church to be constructed in this Madonna's honor. New plans also included the construction of a convent for the nuns of St. Clare to the east. The convent was connected to the gallery of the church by an enclosed walkway that was later destroyed.

The structure remained largely unchanged after its construction, with the exception of the coffered ceiling of painted and gilded wood that likely was added in the late phases of construction (but before 1520).

In the centuries that followed, the building eventually fell into disrepair in part due to Venice’s unforgiving maritime environment. It remained in this state until the 1990s, when an ambitious restoration was undertaken by the Save Venice organization. Today, the building stands as a popular site for locals and tourists alike.

Artwork
The history of the Church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli is closely tied to 1409 painting Virgin and Child. The painting has traditionally been credited to Nicolò di Pietro, although it's been suggested by some scholars that the painting was in fact completed by Zanino di Pietro. The image was commissioned by Francesco Amadi, and was displayed outside along an alleyway near the Amadi household. As the location was accessible by the public, it became a site for local residents to pay their vows. Over the next decades, miracles began to be credited to the image. Residents, as well as political and religious officials, agreed that a chapel should be built to house the painting. The cost of the new building was paid for entirely by the offerings of those who visited the miraculous painting.

Notably, the church is also renowned for its use of sculpture. Both the interior and exterior of the building are adorned with intricately carved statues and reliefs depicting saints and prophets. Many of these works were done by Pietro Lombardo himself, with others being credited to Tullio Lombardi, Alessandro Vittoria, and Girolamo Campagna.

Further artwork is aded to the coffered ceiling of the church, which adorned with paintings depicting various religious scenes and stories.

Architecture and Restoration
The organization Save Venice Inc. restored the church over a period of seven years, from 1990 to 1997 (after several years of preliminary research). The treatments focussed on the marble sheeting and sculptural decoration of both the exterior and interior of the church. The marble cladding contained 14% salt, and was on the point of bursting, when restorers began the desalination and cleaning process. All marble cladding was removed and cleaned in stainless steel tanks using a solution of distilled water. Additionally, the campaign worked in the coffered ceiling, which was made up of fifty-two wooden panels depicting saints and prophets. The cleaning led to the rediscovery of frescoes of sibyls on the spandrels of the ceiling. Nearly every part of the church was examined and treated, including the intarsia doors in the presbytery, the bronze statues and candelabra of the high altar, and the wooden panel of the Madonna from which the church got its name. The restoration was calculated to cost 1 million USD, although the final cost approached 4 million USD.