At the far end of the city, past the public gardens, stands a Gothic church where the patriarch stopped on the morning of the Sensa, the Marriage of the Sea. Napoleon closed it; the twentieth century gave it back its portal and its bell tower.
At a glance
The church of Sant’Elena stands on the island of the same name, at the eastern end of Castello, among the gardens and the housing of the twentieth-century Sant’Elena quarter. It is dedicated to Saint Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, whose relics were brought here in the thirteenth century. The building is Gothic, of the fifteenth century, with a Renaissance portal carrying the monument to the sea captain Vettore Cappello.
Key facts
- First building: 1028 according to the Italian Wikipedia; the plaque at the church says twelfth century
- Rebuilt: by the Benedictine Olivetan monks, who received it in 1407; rebuilt 1439, consecrated 1515
- Portal: 1467, with the monument to Vettore Cappello by Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, formerly attributed to Antonio Rizzo
- Closed: deconsecrated in 1810; reopened to worship in 1928
- Bell tower: demolished after the suppression, rebuilt in 1955
- GPS: 45.42712, 12.36566 · Open in Google Maps
History
The Italian Wikipedia dates the first chapel of Saint Helena here to 1028, entrusted to the Augustinians; the plaque at the church says the building was first raised in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the fifteenth. In 1211 an Augustinian canon, Aicardo, brought what was held to be the body of the empress from Constantinople. In 1407 church and convent passed to the Olivetan Benedictines, who rebuilt the church in 1439; it was consecrated in 1515. Every year on Ascension Day the patriarch came here by gondola, was welcomed by the monks, and blessed the water used for the ring of the Marriage of the Sea.
Under Napoleon, in 1810, the church was deconsecrated: the urn of the saint went to San Pietro di Castello, the portal was rebuilt on the front of Sant’Aponal, and the high altarpiece by Palma il Vecchio ended up in the Pinacoteca di Brera, where it still is. The church reopened in 1928, the portal came back in 1929, and the bell tower was rebuilt in 1955.
What you see
A narrow gabled front of brick, framed by strong pilasters and edged with small trefoil arches, with a two-coloured rose window between two tall Gothic windows. The white stone portal is of another age: a Renaissance arch on fluted columns, with the kneeling figure of Vettore Cappello in the lunette. The plaque at the church still names Antonio Rizzo among its artists, the old attribution of the monument.
Nearby
- The Convent of Sant’Elena — the convent the Olivetans rebuilt, now a hotel
- The Scuola Navale Militare Francesco Morosini — on the same island, a hundred metres off
Gallery
Sources
- The plaque at the church (photographed by Stefano Vigolo in 2014: see the gallery): raised in the twelfth century, rebuilt in the fifteenth, works by Piazza, Andrea da Firenze, Marco Vecellio and Antonio Rizzo
- Chiesa di Sant’Elena (Venezia), Italian Wikipedia: the chapel of 1028, the relics of 1211, the Olivetans, the 1439 rebuilding and 1515 consecration, the feast of the Sensa, the suppression, the portal, the reopening and the bell tower
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →📷 Become a Cultural Heritage Online photographer
Share your photos of places: they stay published under your name as the author. The more they're seen, the more you get noticed — and soon a contest will reward the most appreciated photos.
Log in or sign up free to add a photoIs this page about you?
This page is read by travellers and heritage enthusiasts who find it on Google. Tell us how you are connected to this place and we will take it from there.