2023-2024 conservation and maintenance with funding from Pamela & Paul Austin + The P. Austin Family Foundation honouring the memory of Lawrence B. Austin.
In 1386, the ancient Jewish Cemetery was founded after the Venetian Republic granted permission to the Jewish community to bury their dead on the island of the Lido, on a piece of land belonging to the Benedictine monastery of San Nicolò.
In 1774, the Jewish community abandoned the ancient cemetery in favor of a larger site nearby, and this “new” Jewish Cemetery remains in use today. It contains headstones, tombs, and monuments that date from the 16th and 17th centuries that were re-located from the old cemetery, as well as those from the 18th century to present day.
Beginning in 2023, the Jewish Community undertook urgently needed landscaping work to clear decades of overgrowth around the cemetery’s tombs and headstones. This included removing and pruning precarious trees and creating new pathways to improve access to the cemetery’s 18th-, 19th-, and 20th-century sections. These efforts marked a crucial step in the Jewish Community’s broader initiative to preserve and revitalize the cemetery while enhancing its accessibility and safety for visitors. The improvements also facilitated the identification and documentation of additional tombs and headstones, sparking renewed interest in and a deeper understanding of this important Jewish heritage site.
In 2020, Save Venice’s Immediate Response Fund also allowed for debris removal interventions and damage repairs following the exceptional high tides that occurred in November and December 2019.
In 1999, Save Venice funded the conservation of the nearby ancient Jewish Cemetery as well as treatment of tombstones and sarcophagi in the “new” Jewish Cemetery in 1997 and 2004.
133 East 58th Street, Suite 501
New York, NY 10022
Palazzo Contarini Polignac
Dorsoduro 870 30123 Venice, Italy
The Rosand Library & Study Center is accessible by appointment.
133 East 58th Street, Suite 501
New York, NY 10022
Palazzo Contarini Polignac
Dorsoduro 870 30123 Venice, Italy
The Rosand Library & Study Center is accessible by appointment.