Category Archives: Churches

Church of St. Francis of Assisi (Gen. Trias, Cavite)

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Church of St. Francis of Assisi

The Church of St. Francis of Assisi was first built in 1611 by Franciscan missionaries.  It was rebuilt in stone in 1769 by Doña Maria Josepha de Yrizzari Y Ursula, Countess of Lizarraga, repaired and enlarged in 1834 but was partially damaged during the July 18, 1880 earthquake.

 Check out “VIsita Iglesia 2017“

Buttresses at the side of the church

The façade was rebuilt in 1881 and the church was beautified in 1885.  Its tiled roof was replaced with galvanized iron in 1892.  The church was repaired and enlarged again in 1893.

NHI Plaque

It was restored from 1989 to 1991 and was consecrated on June 22, 1991 by Bishop Felix P. Perez.  In 1992, the church was declared a historical structure by the National Historical Institute.

The convent (now the Museo de San Francisco de Malabon)

The convent was the site where the Banda Matanda (Old Band) practiced the Marcha Filipina before it was played in Kawit during the Declaration of Philippine Independence on June 12, 1898.  It now houses the Museo de San Francisco de Malabon.

The bell tower

The church’s Earthquake Baroque façade has an unusual tassel-like frieze of plaster moldings of huge corbelled arches from whose ends emanate balusters terminated by boss-like ornament.  The lower level has a recessed semicircular arched main entrance (with jambs in receding planes) flanked by semicircular arch statued niches. Above the entrance is a pseudo-Gothic stained glass rose window.

The church interior

The pediment has a raking cornice decorated by traceries below the eaves. On the right is a hexagonal four-storey bell tower tapers upward with open fenestrations and balusters.   The church is 55 m. (180 ft.) long, 24 m. (80 ft.) wide and has an 18 m. (60 ft.) wide nave. It has an altar design similar to Silang Church.

Ceiling painting of the Pentecost

Inside is a ceiling with a painting depicting the Pentacost and a huge altar enshrining a replica of an image of Our Lady of Porta Vaga (the original is in Cavite City).

Image of Our Lady of Solitude of Porta Vaga

Church of St. Francis of Assisi: Gov. Ferrer, Sampalucan, Poblacion, 4107 Gen. Trias. Tel: (046) 437-7339. Feast of St. Francis of Assisi: October 4.

How to Get There: Gen. Trias is located 50.5 kms. (a 1.5-hr. drive) from Manila and 11.8 kms. (a 30-min. drive) from Trece Martires City.

Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Kawit, Cavite)

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Church of St. Mary Magdalene

From Bacoor City, the first church in our Cavite Visita Iglesia itinerary was the Church of St. Mary Magdalene.  First built in wood in 1638 (the third oldest in Cavite), the present stone church was built in 1737.  Its roof was destroyed during a typhoon in 1831. Located 800 m. from the Aguinaldo Shrine, this church was the baptismal site of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo (March 29, 1869).  His birth certificate is kept in glass cabinet on the left side of the altar.  The church was repaired in 1990.

 Check out “VIsita Iglesia 2017” and “Aguinaldo Shrine“

The church’s Baroque-style facade

The church’s two-level Baroque façade, devoid of any flamboyant decorative elements, has a semicircular arch main entrance, topped by the seal of the church’s patroness represented by two capital letter M’s, flanked by superpositioned paired flat pilasters.  The second level has rectangular windows and a triangular pediment with a central niche with the statue of St. Mary Magdalene.

The 4-storey bell tower

On the church’s right is a four-storey bell tower, its first three storeys square and the fourth octagonal. It is capped by a metal dome which is topped by a weather vane. On the three upper levels are open arched fenestrations with ventanilla latticework below the sills.

The church’s interior

The church, with its cruciform plan, has a single nave whose sides have a total of 14 sets of windows, each with a small stained-glass depicting the 14 Stations of the Cross.

The main (at center) an 2 side retablos

Below are arch-shaped windows for air circulation. Each side of the main altar have a larger stained-glass windows, one depicting the Resurrection of Christ and the other the life of Jesus Christ at different stages of his life.

NHI Plaque

Church of St. Mary Magdalene: Tirona Highway, Poblacion, Kawit, Cavite. Tel: (046) 434-8395.  Feast of St. Mary Magdalene: July 22.

How to Get There: Kawit is located 25.3 kms. (a 1-hr. drive) from Manila and 22.1 kms. (a 45-min. drive) from Trece Martires City.

Church of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo (Tanay, Rizal)

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Church of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo

Church of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo

The best-preserved church complex in the province, this church was first built in nipa and bamboo in 1606.  In 1678, a church built with stone was started by Fr. Pedro de Espallargas, completed in 1680 (the first mass was celebrated on April 20, 1680) but was demolished due to its deteriorating condition as a result of natural calamities.

The side entrance

The side entrance

The present church was started in 1773 and completed in 1783 by Franciscan Fr. Alfonso de Fentañes with good local stone from the Tanay quarry. The six retablos were installed in 1786.

Philippine Historical Committee plaque

Philippine Historical Committee plaque

On July 31, 2001, it was declared as a National Cultural Treasure by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and, near the end of 1999, was declared as one of the five Jubilee churches of the Diocese of Antipolo.

The church's Baroque-style facade

The church’s Early Renaissance-style facade

The church’s massive Early Renaissance, adobe-faced, three-level facade features superpositioned columns topped by carved pineapples, semicircular arched main entrance and windows and a triangular pediment with a statued niche framed by an order.

The octagonal bell tower

The octagonal bell tower

On its left is its four-storey octagonal bell tower with semicircular arched windows and, on its right, is the two-storey convent and courtyard. The convent, now housing the rectory, multi-purpose hall and San Ildefonso College, was started in 1640, repaired in 1773, finished in 1783 by Fr. Fentañes and was repaired and improved in 1851.

The convent

The convent

The convent interior

The convent interior

The courtyard

The courtyard

In front of the church is the “Pamana sa Tanay, Hane!!” a 16 ft. high sculpted from an old acacia tree. Designed by Yvette Beatrice Y Co, it was sculpted by Roel Lazarro, Frank B Gajo and sculptors from both Kalayaan and Paete, Laguna. It depicts the Virgin Mary appearing before St. Ildephonsus.

Pamana sa Tanay, Hane!!

Pamana sa Tanay, Hane!!

Inside is a long nave, an intricately decorated wooden pulpit and a silver-plated main altar.    A relic of a piece of bone of St. Ildephonsus, from Zamora, Spain (where the body of the patron saint lies), is housed in a monstrance.  It, was given by Rev. Fr. Felipe Pedraja on October 2006.

The church's interior

The church’s interior

The intricately decorated wooden pulpit

The intricately decorated wooden pulpit

The celebrated 200-year old bas-reliefs of the 14 Stations of the Cross (Via Crucis), encased in large glass windows across each side of the the nave’s walls, are considered as one of the most beautiful in Asia. Indigenized from Western styles, they are believed to have been created by native Tanay artists.

Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross

The seventh station

The seventh station.  The soldier wearing sunglasses is fourth from left

The natives in the carvings have Malay features, with brown skin and squat figures. Native culture is distinctly depicted in the tambuli, made of carabao, and the bolo instead of the typical Roman sword. At the seventh station, one soldier even wears sunglasses.

The main retablo

The main retablo

The five ornate retablos, with Rococo design, honor of Our Lady of Anguish (Nuestra Señora de las Angustias), the Immaculate Conception (La Purísima Concepción), Saint Joseph, Saint Peter of Alcantara and the Baptism of Jesus Christ.

Retablo dedicated to Our Lady of Anguish

Retablo dedicated to Our Lady of Anguish

Retablo dedicated to St. Joseph

Retablo dedicated to St. Joseph

Retablo dedicated to St. Peter of Alcantara

Retablo dedicated to St. Peter of Alcantara

Retablo dedicated to the Immaculate Conception

Retablo dedicated to the Immaculate Conception

Retablo dedicated to the Baptism of Jesus Christ

Retablo dedicated to the Baptism of Jesus Christ

Church of St. Ildephonsus of Toledo: M.H. Del Pilar St,   Brgy. Plaza Aldea, Tanay 1980, Rizal. Tel:  (02) 654 1015. Feast of St. Idelfonsus of Toledo: January 23.

How to Get There: Taytay is located 55.37 kms. from Manila and 43.7 kms. (a 1 hour 10 min. drive) from Antipolo City.

Tanay Tourism Office: G/F, New Tanay Municipal Hall, M. H. del Pilar St., Tanay, Rizal 1980.  Tel: (02) 7361059 and (02) 6551773 loc 212-213.  Mobile number: (0998) 988-1590. E-mail: tanaytourism11@gmail.com. Website: www.tanay.gov.ph.

Church of St. James the Greater (Santiago, Ilocos Sur)

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Church of St. James the Greater

The town’s stone and brick church, built in the late 18th or early 19th century, is located on top of a hill reached by steps made of cut stones. It was burned by lightning in 1823, damaged by the July 18, 1880 earthquake, was repaired by Fr. Juan Martin in 1883 and the rotten harigues (wooden posts) replaced in 1887 by Fr. Pedro Ibanez.   In 1830, Fr. Manuel Foj enlarged the convent.

Buttresses at the left side o the church

Its simple, single level Baroque facade (blended with some Neo-Classic elements) has massive, circular buttresses, a recessed arched entrance flanked by two lateral, semicircular arched statued niches, a triangular pediment decorated with striped ornamentation (the only ones in the façade) at the edges and a statued niche, with its elliptical arch, on the upper central portion.

The right side of the church

Its unusually shaped piers were said to have been copied from the form of a cigar popular in the region. The heavy cement coating steals the appeal of the “folk” Baroque pilasters and hides the texture of the stone and brick.

The church interior

Church of St. James the Greater: Manila North Rd., Santiago 2707, Ilocos Norte. Feast of St. James the Greater: July 25.

How to Get There: Santiago is located 358.75 kms.  from Manila and 49.25 kms. south of Vigan City.

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption (Sta. Maria, Ilocos Sur)

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Santa Maria’s fortress-like, earthquake Baroque-style Church of Our Lady of the Assumption, together with the convent and separate bell tower, were built on roughly 1.25 hectares on a 19 m. (60 ft.) high hill surrounded by a 1.6 m. thick defensive retaining wall on all sides like a fortress, The wall is augmented by stone buttresses every 10 m..

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption

Church of Our Lady of the Assumption

The church is a National Historical Landmark (by virtue of Executive Order nos. 260 on August 1, 1973, 376 on January 14, 1974 and 1515 on June 11, 1978) and was also chosen as a UNESCO World Heritage Site on December 11, 1993 as part of the Baroque Churches of the Philippines, a collection of four Baroque Spanish-era churches.

NHI Plaque

NHI Plaque

It was probably built by Fr. Alejandro Peyrona before the close of the 18th century, totally burned by fire in 1822, reconstructed in 1824, restored in 1859 by Fr. Lorenzo Rodriguez and finished in 1889 by Fr. Juan Zallo.  During the revolution, the church was a rebel stronghold.

The grand stairway

The grand stairway

The church is 99 m. (325 ft.) long and 22.7 m. (74 ft.) wide and is approached by climbing a wide 85-step, 4-flight piedra china (granite) stairway, the first and second flight having 20 steps each, the third 22 and the fourth 21 plus two additional steps. The gently rising stairway, with three landings, tapers from 13 m, wide at street level to 1.5 m. narrower at the top. It has a sweeping view of the lower plains and the town of Santa Maria.

View of Sta. Maria town

View of Sta. Maria town

The simple, solid brick façade, with its three windows and one blind niche, has a recessed arched entrance framed by a pair of exaggerated rectangular pilasters, dividing the whole façade into three well-defined planes, and thick, massive walls with delicately carved side entrances (with few openings) and heavy circular buttresses or corner drums that end up in decorative urn-like finials. A stringcourse extends from one corner drum to the other across the façade, .

Side entrance

Side entrance

The eastern and western side of the outer walls are reinforced by 13 huge quadrangular buttresses, typical of Earthquake Baroque architecture.

Huge quadrangular buttresses typical of Earthquake Baroque architecture

Huge quadrangular buttresses typical of Earthquake Baroque architecture

The first buttress from the front is adorned by a huge bas relief, visible as one ascends the front stairway, retelling how the statue of Our Lady of Assumption was found on top of a tree.

According to tradition, the statue was washed up on the beach, undamaged from the wreck of a Spanish galleon.  It was installed on the original ermita (chapel) built at the foot of the mountain.  It would periodically disappear, only to be subsequently found on the same guava tree on top of the knoll where the church now stands.

Huge relief retelling how the statue of Our Lady of Assumption was found on top of a tree

Huge relief retelling how the statue of Our Lady of Assumption was found on top of a tree

The middle buttress on the eastern wall (back) is built like a staircase for easy maintenance of the roof, back when thatched roof was the norm in Philippine churches (now lighter corrugated galvanised iron roofing is used).

Middle buttress built like a staircase for easy maintenance of the roof

Middle buttress built like a staircase for easy maintenance of the roof

The main entrance and the blind niche on the curvilinear,  cock comb-shaped open pediment (topped by a small cupola) have circular arched forms.  Lateral ones have segmental pediments.

The church interior

The church interior

Inside is a long single nave with 9 pairs of Ionic pilasters dividing the interior elevation into 8 bays. Wind chimes hang from the lamps inside and the huge altar features some fine old tiles. A series of smaller altars, 3 on each side of the apse, flank the main altar.  There’s also a pulpit and a lectern. The church houses the statue of the one-meter tall, dark Virgin of Santa Maria.

The main altar

The main altar

The church pulpit

The church pulpit

The celebrated, 4-storey, squat leaning bell tower, consisting of stacked octagonal horizontal cross-sections of decreasing diameter (typical of Earthquake Baroque church towers), stands separately near the middle of the nave. Covered by a dome with balustrade that is capped by a cupola (with a cross on top), this Chinese pagoda-like tower is decorated with single pilasters, finials and blind and real semicircular arched fenestrations.  A clock, on the third level, faces the stairway for churchgoers to see.

The 4-storey, octagonal bell tower

The 4-storey, octagonal bell tower

The tower was built in 1810, during the renovation of the church, and furnished with a bell the following year. After the bell tower was remodeled in 1863, its foundation gradually settled down and, today, the imposing structure is slightly leaning or tilting.

The currently roofless onvent

The currently roofless onvent

Partly blocking the frontal view of the façade of the church and accessible from the church by an elevated stone walkway (underneath which is a gate that leads to the back courtyard) is the convent. Damaged during the 1880 earthquake, it was rebuilt by Fr. Benigno Fernandez and greatly renovated in 1895.  An 8 m. high stone fence, erected in 1859 by Fr. Rodriguez, surrounds the buildings.

Part of the 8 m. high wall

Part of the 8 m. high wall

From the back courtyard, another wide stairway, similar to the front but on the opposite side (also built by Fr. Rodriguez in 1859), leads down to a brick walkway that leads to an old abandoned circular camposanto (cemetery) at the foot of the hill now overwhelmed by exuberant foliage. Within the brick fence of the cemetery are the ruins of a former old brick chapel (ermita) and old graveyards.

The back stairway

The back stairway

Address: Santa Maria – Burgos Rd,, 2705 Santa Maria, Ilocos Sur. Tel: (075) 732-5568. Feast of Our Lady of the Assumption: August 15.

How to Get There: Sta. Maria is located 369.75 kms. from Manila and 38.25 kms. south of Vigan City.

Church of St. William of Aquitaine (Magsingal, Ilocos Sur)

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Church of St. William of Aquitaine

Church of St. William of Aquitaine

Magsingal‘s 3-storey, cream and white Church of St. William of Aquitaine, the town’s second, was built in 1827, restored in 1848 and again by Fr. Jose Vasquez.  Its Neo-Classical facade, built within a light wall frame and supported by steep and imposing buttresses (like other Ilocos churches), is divided into 3 levels.

The church complex

The church complex

The first level has a semicircular arched portal flanked by two statued niches and topped by triangular canopies between paired and single Tuscan columns.  A rectangular piece, atop the main entrance’s keystone, contains the Augustinian symbol.

The Neo-Classical facade

The Neo-Classical facade

The second level, a repeat of the first, has a large semicircular window at the center flanked by two windows with triangular pediments, with all 3 having baluster shafts. The third level has a single, semicircular niche (with the statue of St. William the Hermit) flanked by two occoli (small circular windows).  The elaborate curvilinear pediment ends up in finials.  Its tympanum also has a circular window

The adjoining convent

The adjoining convent

The church is linked to the 2-storey convent/school by a capiz window-lined upper corridor mounted over two arches.

The octagonal bell tower

The octagonal bell tower

The nearby 30-m. high, 4-level octagonal brick bell tower, with blind and real semicircular arched fenestration of various sizes, was allegedly built in 1692 and finished by Fr. Pedro Berger (parish priest from 1824 to 1829).

The church interior

The church interior

On July 31, 2001, it was one of the Philippine colonial churches declared by the National Museum as a National Cultural Treasure and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) had identified and selected it as one of 26 Spanish Colonial Era churches to be under its conservation program.

Side altar

Side altar

Inside are the most important examples of Baroque-influenced art in the Ilocos notably the ornate Baroque reredos made of molave (which contain no nails), a choir loft, molave columns, a well-preserved retablo (a total seascape) and an incomparable pulpit.

The altar retablo

The altar retablo. The statues of the mermaids are on the sides of the topmost niche 

Atop the topmost niche (housing the statue of St. William) of the retablo are two nude mermaids.  It is said that the sculptor, Nepomuceno Tolentino, a Magsingal native, used his pregnant wife as a model for the pregnant mermaids.The  whole retablo is topped by a clam shell and the ceiling of the niches are also in clam shell form. On the sides are Classically designed seahorses, above which are big waves (with moderate forms of starfishes on their hold) accented with smaller waves.

The altar

The altar

The richly-carved main altar features Salomonic columns adorned with plant motifs. The pulpit has a statue of a boy with a tambuli or native horn, both made by a certain Pablo Tamayo, a talented Magsingal fisherman. He also designed the choir loft.

The richly carved pulpit

The richly carved pulpit

Commencing from the church and linking various streets are the 14 stone shrines of the Via Crusis (Way of the Cross).

Stairway leading up to the pulpit.

Stairway leading up to the pulpit. On top of the canopy is the statue of the boy with a tambuli (native horn) 

Address: Manila North Road, 2730 Magsingal, Ilocos Sur.  Tel: (077) 726-3565. Feast of St. William of Aquitaine: February 10.

How to Get There: Magsingal is located 419.2 kms. from Manila and 11.2 kms. north of Vigan City.

 

Church of St. Augustine (Bantay, Ilocos Sur)

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Bantay‘s restored 18th century Church of St. Augustine, also known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Charity, was first built from 1691 to 1692 by Fr. Alonso Cortes.  Evacuees took refuge here during the Basi Revolt of 1807. It was rebuilt and restored by Fr. Eduardo Navarro (parish priest from 1870 to 1875) and was finished by Fr. Lizardo Villanueva in 1892.

Church of St. Augustine

Church of St. Augustine

Fr.  Alfredo Versoza patched the roof with galvanized iron.  Damaged during World War II, the church was repaired in 1950 and the interior decorated by Fr. Jose Brillantes. This 45.09 m. long and 11.69 m. wide brick church is flanked by massive rectangular twin towers.

The church complex. The separate bell tower is on the far left

The church complex. The separate bell tower is on the far left

Its facade has Baroque (decorative volutes around the second level windows), Neo-Gothic (pointed lancet-like arch flanked by blind pointed arcading at recessed main entrance) and pseudo-Romanesque (central window’s shaft with balustrade) features.

The church facade

The church facade

The facade’s only decorated parts are broken curves along the top of the triangular pediment and the inverted traceries below the eaves. The imposing church once was in the shape of a cross but the two wings that formed the arms of the cross were damaged during the Second World War.

The church interior

The church interior

The eerie but romantic “Chapel by the Ruins,” an open air chapel at the remains of the right wing of the original structure, was said to have been the place where priests were imprisoned by Diego Silang during the 1763 revolt against the Spaniards.

The Chapel By The Ruins

The Chapel by the Ruins

Its separate 3-storey hilltop and slightly crumbling square bell tower, which served as a lookout for approaching enemies, could be climbed for a fine view of an old nearby cemetery and the surrounding area.

The separate bell tower

The separate bell tower

Inside the church is the miraculous and greatly venerated image of Our Lady of Charity (Nuestra Señora de La Caridad), the oldest Marian image in the Ilocos.  Legend has it that it was found my some local fishermen in a wooden box which was floating on Bantagay River. The 50-inch tall image is made of wood, except for the ivory face and hands (its ivory parts were stolen in 1928). On January 13, 1956, the image was officially crowned by Egidio Vagnozi, Apostolic Nuncio to the Philippines.

Historical plaque

Historical plaque

Address: Manila-North Road, Zone 5, 2727 Bantay, Ilocos Sur. Tel. (075) 722-4072. Bell Tower open 6 AM – 6 PM. Feast of St. Augustine: May 5. Feast of Our Lady of Charity: Second Sunday of January.

How to Get There: Bantay is located 406.17 kms. from Manila and 1.83 kms. north of Vigan City.

Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria, Virgin and Martyr (Santa, Ilocos Sur)

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Church of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr

Church of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr

This interesting and picturesque church is situated near the sea, one kilometer off the highway.  It was first built by Fr. Pedro Torrices from 1849-1855 and was finished by Father Luis Lagar in 1875. In 1886, Fr. Jose Rodriguez Prada restored the church and built a belfry.  A convent, built by Fr. Rafael Redondo, was eventually destroyed.

Church of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr (3)Its one-storey Neo-Baroque facade has well emphasized super-positioned coupled piers;   a horizontal string cornice designed with block modillon and a undulating Baroque-style triangular pediment.  The three-centered depressed arch main entrance, flanked by semicircular arched windows, has jambs bordered by protruding blocks of stone.  A circular window,  on the choir loft, has lace-like carvings. The bell tower on the right is a new construction.

Church of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr (4)

Address. National Highway, Santa, Ilocos Sur. Tel: (077) 725 5033. Feast of St. Catherine, Virgin and Martyr: November 25.

How to Get There: Santa is located 366.8 kms. from Manila and 41.2 kms. south of Vigan City.

Church of St. Zacharias (Venice, Italy)

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Chiesa di San Zaccaria (1)

Church of St. Zechariah

The large 15th-century, formerly monastic (it was originally attached to a Benedictine monastery of nuns) Church of St. Zechariah (Chiesa di San Zaccaria) is located just off the waterfront, to the southeast of Piazza San Marco and St Mark’s Basilica.  The first church on the site was founded in the early 9th century by Doge Giustiniano Participazio  to house the body, under the second altar on the right, of St. Zechariah (the father of John the Baptist), the saint to which it is dedicated, a gift of the Byzantine Emperor Leo V the Armenian. The remains of 8 early doges as well as the artist Alessandro Vittoria (his tomb marked by a self-portrait bust) are also buried in the colonnaded Romanesque crypt of the church.

Nave

Nave

The original church, rebuilt in the 1170s (when the present campanile was built), was replaced by the present Late Gothic-style church designed by Antonio Gambello.  Built between 1458 and 1515, it was built beside (not over) the original church, the remains of which still stands. Seventy years later, the upper part of the façade, with its arched windows and its columns, and the upper parts of the interior were completed by Mauro Codussi in early Renaissance style. Thus, the façade is a harmonious Venetian mixture of late-Gothic and Renaissance styles.

Tomb of St. Zacharias

Tomb of St. Zacharias

The church’s apse, surrounded by an ambulatory lit by tall Gothic windows, is a typical feature of Northern European church architecture which is unique in Venice. The San Zaccaria Altarpiece, one of the most famous works by Giovanni Bellini (whisked away to Paris for 20 years when Napoleon plundered the city in 1797), as well as paintings by 17th and 18th century artists (at the  walls of the aisles and of the chapels).

Chiesa di San Zaccaria (11)

They include works by Andrea del Castagno, Palma Vecchio, Tintoretto, Giuseppe Porta, Palma il Giovane, Antonio Vassilacchi, Anthony van Dyck, Andrea Celesti,Antonio Zanchi, Antonio Balestra, Angelo Trevisani and Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo. The organ of the church was built by Gaetano Callido in 1790.

Chiesa di San Zaccaria (4)

The Chapel of St Athanasius, which was most of the nave and right-hand aisle of the old church, was rebuilt for the nuns in the mid-15th century and then converted into a chapel around 1595. It contains a Domenico Tintoretto altarpiece depicting The Birth of John the Baptist or maybe The Birth of the Virgin. To the right of an altar designed by Vittoria is The Flight into Egypt by Domenico Tintoretto. Over the entrance door is the Crucifixion, claimed to be by Anthony van Dyke, very redolent of the Counter-Reformation in its minimalness and drama.

Chiesa di San Zaccaria (5)

Another door takes you through to the Cappella dell’Addolorata, with cases of relics, and then into the lovely Chapel of San Tarasio, the apse of the old church, built in 1440 by Gambello. It features some very impressive frescoes in the vaulting, painted in 1442 by Andrea del Castagno (in collaboration with a certain Francesco da Faenza).  Discovered in 1923 and cleaned in the 1950s, they are the artist’s earliest extant work and feature his only signature (Andreas de Florentia).

Chiesa di San Zaccaria (7)

There are also three well-preserved Late-Gothic gilded altarpieces by brothers-in-law Antonio Vivarini and Giovanni d’Alemagna. The central three panels (dated 1385), on the main level of the high altarpiece (Saints Blaise and Martin, with The Virgin and Child in the center), are signed by Stefano di Sant’Agnese, taken from another work and inserted in 1839 in place of a reliquary. The two saints flanking them (Mark and Elizabeth) are by Giovanni and Antonio Vivarini. More saints, said to have also been added later, are found on the back. A recently discovered and restored predella, on the front of the altar, is ascribed to Paolo Veneziano.

Chiesa di San Zaccaria (8)

Church of San Zaccaria: Campo San Zaccaria 4693, 30122 Venice, Italy. Open Mondays – Saturays, 10 AM–12 PM and 4–6 PM, and Sundays, 4–6 PM. Tel: +39 041 522 1257

Church of St. Peter Martyr (Venice, Italy)

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The Church of St. Peter Martyr (Italian: Chiesa di San Pietro Martire), currently one of the two main Roman catholic parish churches (the other is the Basilica of St. Donato) and one of three remaining (before Napoleon there were 18, the third is the Church of St. Mary of the Angels ) in the island of Murano, near Venice, was edificated in 1348 along with a Dominican convent and was originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist.  In 1474, a fire razed it to the ground and, in 1511, it was rebuilt and enlarged to the current appearance and rededicated to St. Peter Martyr.

Church of St. Peter Martyr

In 1806, a few years after the fall of the Republic of Venice, it was closed but was reopened in 1813 as a parish church due to an initiative by Fr. Stefano Tosi, with art from other suppressed churches and monasteries on Murano and other islands. At its reopening the church was renamed St. Peter and Paul (S. Pietro e Paolo) but, in 1840, it reverted to its present name.

During the restoration of 1922-28, the original ceiling and the frescos of the saints above the pillars were revealed.  The colonnade from the demolished convent of Santa Chiara was also reassembled and attached to the west flank of the church in 1924. From 1981 to 1983, the church underwent a restoration campaign financed by the Italian Ministry of Culture.  The roof was repaired and the rotten brickwork was replaced. Save Venice provided emergency funding to repair stone parts of the two-light “bifora” window above the side entrance door.

The church’s Renaissance façade, of naked brickwork, is divided in three sections.  Its 16th-century portal is surmounted by a large rose window. On the left façade is a portico with Renaissance arcades and columns (perhaps what remains of the original cloister) and a bell tower, dating to 1498-1502 (its original bells came from England but have been recast many times since, most recently in 1942 after war damage). The church is 55 m. (180 ft.) long, 25 m. (82 ft.) wide and 13 m. (43 ft.) wide at the nave.

The impressively spacious and tall interior, with a basilica plan, has a nave and two aisles (divided from each other by rows of four arches supported by large columns), a wooden ceiling,  tie beams across the arches and the nave, a trussed roof, a wide and deep half-domed chancel, a high altar and three minor altars for each nave. The spandrels between the arches are nicely decorated with saints.  The quite large presbytery has barrel vaults and two small, wide and deep apsidal chapels.

In the right nave are artworks including a Baptism of Christ (attributed to Tintoretto, it came from above the high altar of the demolished San Giovanni dei Battuti on Murano) plus two works by Giovanni Bellini – Assumption with Saints (1510–1513) and the Barbarigo Altarpiece (or The Madonna with Doge Agostino Barbarigo, 1488), taken from the nearby church of Santa Maria degli Angeli and brought here in 1815.

The row of arches supported by large columns

Other paintings include a St. Jerome in the Desert by Paolo Veronese (also from Santa Maria degli Angeli), St Agatha Visited in Prison by St. Peter and an Angel  (also by Veronese), the Barcaioli Altarpiece (or Virgin and Child with Saints) by Giovanni Agostino da Lodi (ca. 1500, it was previously thought to be by Basaiti and came from the demolished San Cristoforo delle Pace), a Deposition from the Cross by Giuseppe Porta, Saints Nicholas, Charles Borromeo and Lucy by Palma il Giovane (which came from the demolished church of Santi Biagio e Cataldo on Giudecca) and a 1495 Ecce Homo (perhaps from the destroyed church of Santo Stefano in Murano). In the left-hand apsidal chapel is a hard-to-see painting by Domenico Tintoretto while a pair of huge paintings by Bartolomeo Latteri (including an impressively architectural Nozze di Cana) covering both side walls of the deep chancel.

The Ballarin Chapel, at the church’s right wing, was built in 1506 after the death of Giuliano Ballarin, the eponymous glassmaker from Murano.

Chiesa di San Pietro Martire: Fondamenta dei Vetrai, Campiello Marco Michieli 3, 30141 Murano, Venice VE, Italy. Tel: +39 041 739704.  Open Mondays to Saturdays, 9 AM – 12 noon and 3 – 6 PM, and Sundays, 3- 6 PM.