Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone o di San Giorgio degli
Schiavoni - Castello 3259/a - Venice
The Dalmatian School of the SS. Giorgio e Trifone or San Giorgio degli Schiavoni dei Carmini is located in Castello and can be reached on foot from Riva degli Schiavoni with a pleasant walk to the open space in front of the Ponte de la Comenda where the beautiful Renaissance fa�ade rises.
Although not part of the "Grandi", the School of Schiavoni still has an important meaning in the social and artistic history of the lagoon city having within it a whole cycle by the painter Carpaccio.
Architecture of the Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone o di San Giorgio degli
Schiavoni
The beautiful building has a marble fa�ade on three levels that stands next to the Ponte de la Comenda, which reminds us that here was a hospital before the Scuola there was an hospital dedicated to Santa Caterina and managed by the Order of the Templars.
The fa�ade is covered with white Istrian stone with a first level tripartite by 4 Ionic pilasters resting on pedestals.
On the left side there is a mullioned window with a round arch and columns with a square section with Ionic style capitals and an overhead entablature with an upper frieze.
The entrance to the school is framed by a portal with Ionic style pilasters on smaller bases than those on the lateral parts, entablature with frieze in which we read DEO OPT MAX MDLI, or To (or through) God, the best, the greatest, 1551 (year of renovation of the fa�ade by the proto Giovanni de Zan, pupil of the Sansovino). The upper bas-relief depicts marine animals.
On the right there is a quadrangular window between columns on a base that recalls the height and the motifs of the left side but with height connected to the pilasters of the central portal to reach the level of the trabeation of the entire fa�ade. An inscription mentions SCHOLA DE SANZUANE DAL TEMPIO because here there was the seat of this school, also remembered in the corner pilaster by the presence of two high-reliefs depicting the Madonna and San Zuane.
In the trabeation of the fa�ade that separates the two levels we read the inscription: COLLABENTM NIMIA VETUSTATE AEDEM DIVO GEOR DICATAM COLLEGIUM ILLYRIORUM PIETATE ET ANIMI MAGNITUDINE INSIGNIUM HIS NITORI A FUNDAMENTIS RESTITUIVIT MDLI
or The College of the Illyrians, the crumbling temple for the great age consecrated to George, with pity and greatness of soul returned from its foundations to its splendor 1551.
The second level, also divided into three parts by ionic pilasters supporting the entablature, has two mullioned windows with a round arch on the sides with Ionic columns with a square section.
In the central part of the second level two ionic half-columns support an entablature, which incorporates the style already seen inferiorly, framing a panel where two high-reliefs are placed overlapped: above the Madonna with Jesus and Saint John presenting a confrere to Saint Catherine of Alexandria, below San Giorgio kills the dragon, the work of Pietro di Grazioli da Sal� (1552), collaborator of the Sansovino and author of the famous Gobbo di Rialto which is located in Campo San Giacometo.
The third level has a large octagonal eye in the center surrounded by an octagonal marble mark interrupted on the top, delimited by two ionic half-columns that support the trabeation on which a triangular tympanum rests.
Works kept inside the Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone o di San Giorgio degli
Schiavoni
Room on the ground floor: Stories of the saints Girolamo, Giorgio, Trifone (1502-1507), tempere on tables. These stories were created by Vittore Carpaccio following the hagiographic stories in the volume Legenda Aurea written by Jacopo da Varazze (1228-1298):
- St. Augustine in his study (1502)
- Saint Jerome and the lion in the convent (1502)
- Funeral of St. Jerome (1502)
- Saint George and the Dragon (1502)
- Triumph of Saint George (1502)
- Baptism of the selenites (1507)
- Saint Trifone tames the basilisk (1507)
The two evangelical stories are added outside the cycle:
- Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane (1502)
- Vocation of St. Matthew (1502)
And above the altar is the altarpiece with Madonna enthroned with Child and angels perhaps by Benedetto Carpaccio, son of the most famous Vittore Carpaccio.
The Upper Room, also known as the Albergo, also has a wooden ceiling with pictorial decorations by Bastian de Muran and canvases of the Scuola by Palma on the walls.
Finally, there is an altar with the patron saints of the School flanked by two gold plates: San Girolamo and San Trifone (XV century).
History of Scuola Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone o di San Giorgio degli
Schiavoni
Officially founded in 1451, it bears witness to the by now conspicuous presence of the Dalmatian colony (the Schiavoni): the relations that Venice had with this geographical area of ??the upper Adriatic were frequent since ancient times and intensified during the 15th century. the territories passed under the dominion of the Serenissima. At that point, all those who came from the land felt the need to meet in a place that could recognize and witness their identity and culture.
In the beginning, the confreres gathered inside the Ospeal de Santa Caterina on the ground floor (1445) but then obtained by the prior also the first floor (1451) of the Hospital next to the Church of San Zuane dei Furlani that from 1445 it housed the Schola de San Zuane Battista.
The first funds collected among the faithful were engaged in the restoration of the site: the ground floor room was created for religious services while the upper floor room was, as usual, used for the meetings of the Brotherhood.
The former hospital of S. Caterina was thus purchased under the patronage of St. George.
The first funds collected among the faithful were engaged in the restoration of the site: the ground floor room was created for religious services while the upper floor room was, as usual, used for the meetings of the Brotherhood.
Probably the School, despite the substantial number of its members and their support, would remain one of the many minor associations, except that at the beginning of the new century, in 1502, the School received one of those donations (similar to S. Giovanni Evangelista) who gained immense fame.
The dying patriarch of Jerusalem, in fact, handed over the relic of St. George to the captain of the Venetian troops in Greece: at the time of his return home, the relic was handed over to the school which consecrated the saint.
To this must be added that in the same year, the Carpaccio, to whom some works had been commissioned, gave its first works, relating to the cycle of S.Girolamo, as well as S.Matteo and S.Agostino and obviously to S.Giorgio: masterpieces where Carpaccio reaches the perfection of his pictorial poetry.
In the middle of the 16th century the front elevation was modified: it assumed a marble connotation that brought it up to the present day.
With the well-known Napoleonic suppression of the early nineteenth century, the school as others risks being erased forever: only the good sense of Eugene Napoleon himself, led to the withdrawal of the decree, allowing the Confraternity of Schiavoni to reach the present day.
In 1827 the ancient Schola de San Zuane was definitively closed and its rooms were incorporated into the adjacent Scuola degli Schiavoni and used as a sacristy where is still preserved the mariegola, that is the Mother Rule or the statutes of the rights and duties of the aggregates.
How to reach the Dalmatian school of the SS. Giorgio and Trifone or San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
The Dalmatian School of the SS. Giorgio e Trifone or San Giorgio degli Schiavoni dei Carmini is located in Castello and can be reached on foot from Riva degli Schiavoni, where you can easily reach the line 1 or 2 with stops in San Zaccaria and Piet�.
In front of the Chiesa della Piet� take the Calle della Piet� and continue on Calle Bosello turning right into Salizada dei Greci. After passing the bridge of the same name, turn left into Fondamentea dei Furlani where the Dalmatian school is located.
Useful information for the visit
Hours: every day except Tuesday from 10 amto 5.30 pm. Last admission at 5 pm. Reservations from Monday to Friday from 9.30 am to 12.30 am by email segreteria@scuoladalmatavenezia.com.
Closed Christmas and New Year.
Tickets: full � 5, reduced � 4 (over 65 and students of every order and degree). Free for children under 6 years.
Telephone: +39.041.5228828
E-mail: segreteria@scuoladalmatavenezia.com
Website: Scuola
Dalmata dei SS. Giorgio e Trifone |
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