The Church of St George
The reconstruction of the church of St George began in 1536, on land purchased a few years earlier by the Greeks of Venice and was completed in 1577. The work was supervised by the architects Sante Lombardo and Zuanantonio Chiona, while the well-known architect Andrea Palladio was the consultant for the construction of the women’s balcony. The church was decorated with icons brought by refugees from Constantinople, such as the Grand Duchess Anna Paleologina Notara, but also from other regions, with works by important painters such as Michael Damaskinos, Emmanuel Tzanes Bounialis, Thomas Bathas and others. The illustration of the dome was entrusted to John the Cyprian, who worked under the supervision of the remarkable Venetian painter Jacopo Tintoretto.
The instructions for the decoration were clear: everything had to be done according to the maniera greca, the Greek style. The pulpit in its present form is the work of Giovanni Grapiglia (1597). The mosaics of the Deesis on the front of the church were made in 1564-1574, while the mosaics of the sanctuary were made during the period 1598-1602, with designs by Thomas Bathas, John Vlastos and Antonios Vassilakis. The mosaic of the Transfiguration was made in 1664-1666, and the mosaic of the Descent into Hades in 1886.
HOURS: Monday 09.30 -17.00, Tuesday – Saturday 09.30 – 16.00
Bell Tower
It was built between 1587 and 1592 under the supervision of the architect Bernardo Ongarin. In 1589 the clockwork was installed. Its construction was entirely financed by the bequest of Iakovos Samariaris from Zakynthos. The structure of the bell tower was inclined from the beginning of its construction. Together with that of Santo Stefano, it is one of the two most sloping bell towers in Venice. At the beginning of the 17th century, cells were built at the base of the bell tower, which were used as a place of residence for the priests of the church. Extensive renovation work was carried out between 1999 and 2006 with funding from the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation and the Anastasios G. Onassis Foundation. The work of the Foundation and the Anastasios Leventis Foundation was carried out in 1999 and 2005.
Flanginian School
Thomas Flanginis of Corfu, a wealthy lawyer and merchant in Venice, stipulated in his will, in 1644, that a significant part of his estate be donated to the foundation of a higher educational institution for Greek students. The College of Flangini, as it was called, began operating in 1665 and was housed in a privately owned building of the Brotherhood, built with funds from the Flangini estate by the Venetian architect Baldassare Longhena. It is located in the so-called Campo dei Greci, next to Scoletta, where the Board of Directors and the hospital of the Fraternity were housed, and also next to the church of St. George of the Greeks.
Among the teachers we meet important scholars, such as Theophilos Korydaleas, Pachomios Doxaras, Mitrophanis Kritopoulos and Meletios Typaldos. According to the regulations, the students had to be Orthodox of Greek origin, preferably Cypriots or Corfiots, aged 12 to 16 years old, who were to study for six years. Twelve of them were to be boarders, while the rest were to be external students. The subjects to be taught were ‘humanities’, rhetoric, philosophy and logic. Theology, mathematics and geography. After graduation the students could continue their studies at the University of Padua.
The school operated for about a century and a half and some 600 students attended it, many of whom later worked as teachers in schools in Greece. Influenced by the spirit of humanism of the time, the students of Flanginianus had founded a literary society called the ‘Academy of the Ablaves’ and, in collaboration with their teachers, went on to publish two collections of poetry. In 1797, with the advent of Napoleon, the funds of the Flangini’s legacy, deposited in the Venetian bank (Zecca) were confiscated by the French, with the result that the school fell into decline. It was reopened in 1824 under the name of “Flangini’s Greek School”, only to close permanently in 1905.
``Scoletta di San Nicolò``
Two-storey building in Campo dei Greci, next to the church of St. George which was called Scoletta di San Nicolò. It is the work of the famous Venetian architect Baldassare Longhena, late 17th century. On the first floor of the headquarters of the Brotherhood there was the Hospital of the Poor Greeks which operated from 1678 to 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.
On the second floor is the Sala del Capitolo, the meeting room of the Brotherhood of Greeks, now used for events and conferences of the Hellenic Institute.
