On the night of November 4, 1966, an unprecedented flood unleashed its forces on the city of Venice and caused enormous damage to the entire city and its superb buildings. The response from the public all around the world led to the first truly international campaign to save heritage. World Monuments Fund, then the International Fund for Monuments, was an early respondent, and there is perhaps no other place where we have had a more sustained and intimate experience than in Venice.
Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
Along with establishing the Misericordia Laboratory, during the years following the dramatic floods of 1966 World Monuments Fund also carried out many conservation projects. In 1969, WMF began a ten-year project at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. The scuola rose to prominence in the thirteenth century when scule—religious confraternities that sponsored acts of charity—were highly influential. During the following centuries the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista became one of the most prestigious confraternities in Venice and the building was enriched with a gothic-style façade, a spectacular double staircase designed by architect Mauro Codussi, and a fine series of paintings that embellished the oratorio. WMF’s conservation project focused on structural repairs as well as cleaning and art restoration, including the exquisite eighteenth-century carved marble mosaic floor.
Santa Maria della Visitazione (Church of the Pietà)
World Monuments Fund started working on Santa Maria della Visitazione, also known as the Church of the Pietà, in 1971. The building is perhaps best known for its ties to violinist and composer Antonio Vivaldi, who taught at the accompanying foundling hospital from 1709 until 1741. Construction of the church started in 1744, and Giambattista Tiepolo, the greatest fresco painter of the age, was commissioned to decorate the wall and ceiling above the high altar.
By the mid-twentieth century, humidity had caused serious damage to the interior of the church and threatened Tiepolo's work. WMF’s twenty-year project included retiling the roof, mitigating water infiltration problems, and installing a new lighting system that highlights the building’s interior finishes and decorative elements.
Church of San Giovanni in Bragora
Many of our projects in the city have also entailed the used of very specialized technologies. In the church of San Giovanni in Bragora, WMF utilized specialized technology and X-ray photogrammetry to restore the spectacular “Baptism of Christ” painting by Giambattista Cima da Conegliano.
This work was pivotal not only for the artist but for Venetian Renaissance painting as it is the earliest surviving large-scale representation of the subject. The restoration, carried out in the late 1980s, began with the removal of the overpainting and varnish, revealing the original surface in good condition with spectacular bright blues against a country landscape.
Basilica of San Pietro di Castello
WMF’s projects in Venice have also addressed highly significant sites off the beaten path that were brought back to public attention through the conservation process. Such was the case at the Basilica of San Pietro di Castello, located in a primarily residential island, far to the east of Piazza San Marco. This island was indeed one of the earliest Venetian settlements and the ninth-century church of San Pietro was once the seat of the Bishop of Venice.
WMF’s work on the church began in 1970, and included the restoration of the window casings, floors, walls, stone and wooden furnishings, the fifteenth-century bell tower, and the magnificent eighteenth-century organ. Today, despite the church’s remote location, it has become a premier site for organ concerts, attracting both renowned organists and international audiences.
Bartolomeo Colleoni Monument
In addition to the conservation of buildings, WMF’s work in Venice has included efforts to preserve the cityscape. In 1996, the colossal, fifteenth-century Bartolomeo Colleoni monument was included on the inaugural World Monuments Watch to raise awareness about its condition. The statue, the first one to be erected in a public space in Venice, had been completed 500 years before, and suffered from neglect and damage from the local climate.
From 2003 to 2006, World Monuments Fund carried out a major conservation project of the whole monument, constructing a temporary, on-site conservation studio within which to disassemble, analyze, and treat the horse and rider. Conservators treated severely rusted armature, replaced unsalvageable structural members, secured the statue to its stone base, and implanted a monitoring device within the statue to track future changes to the monument’s condition.
