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Museum of Icons in Venice - Scoletta Confraternity of San Nicolò

The Museum of Icons in Venice is on the first floor of the headquarters of the Scoletta Confraternity of San Nicolò (a work by Baldassare Longhena from the 17th century) which housed the Hospital of the Poor Greeks which functioned from 1678 until the beginning of the 20th century.

Later, this space was transformed into a one-of-a-kind museum of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, which was inaugurated in 1959 and radically renovated in 1999. It includes many icons, but also illuminated manuscripts, gold-embroidered sacred vestments belonging to archbishops of Philadelphia and small craft objects of great historical and artistic value.

The collection was formed by donations from members of the Brotherhood and other Orthodox; many icons were transported to Venice by refugees and others were painted there by Greek iconographers. Among these, the works of Michele Damaskinòs, Giorgio Klonzas, Emanuele Lambardos, Teodoro Pulakis, Emanuele Tzanes Bunialìs stand out. Alongside the valuable examples of the Cretan school there are some Constantinopolitan works of art from the era of the Palaeologus, such as the Madonna and Child, Apostles and Saints and the icon of Christ "in Glory" with the Apostles, brought from Constantinople and donated to Brotherhood of a Byzantine noblewoman, Anna Paleoghina Notarà.

Once the seat of the Greek brotherhood, it housed the hospital for the poor Greeks from 1678 until the beginning of the 20th century.

The collection includes precious examples of portable, Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons dating from the 14th to the 18th century and which were brought to Italy by refugees after the fall of Constantinople to the Turks and icons later painted in Venice by Greek artists, some of whom also worked on the interiors of the church of San Giorgio dei Greci.

Of note, for example, is the Saint George portrayed skewering the dragon or a splendid work dedicated to the Madonna.

In addition to the icons, at the museum you can also admire some illuminated manuscripts, the precious sacred vestments of the archbishops and some handcrafted objects.

Map: Museum of Icons in Venice - Scoletta Confraternity of San Nicolò