Restored in 1983 with Save Venice general funds.

In the fourteenth century, a church was founded in honor of Saint John the Evangelist on the Venetian island of Murano; a fire razed the structure to the ground in 1474, and the church was then rebuilt and rededicated to Saint Peter Martyr once it was completed in 1511.

From 1981 to 1983, the Italian Ministry of Culture financed a restoration campaign to repair the roof and replace rotten brickwork at San Pietro Martire. Save Venice provided emergency funding to repair stone parts of the two-light “bifora” window above the side entrance portal. The style of the window, with its two slender arches topped with a circular window and framed within a larger semicircular arch, is typical of Venetian architecture of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century, and was frequently employed by architects such as Mauro Codussi.

The window was restored by conservator Franco Zerbo, with the guidance of project director Emanuela Zucchetta of the Superintendency of Monuments of Venice.

For select projects, conservation dossiers in Italian containing limited textual and photographic documentation may be available for consultation by appointment at the Venice office of Save Venice and the Rosand Library & Study Center. For inquiries, please contact us at venice@savevenice.org.

Unidentified artisan
Venetian Bifora Window
Early sixteenth century, Istrian stone