Virtual Reconstruction of the Oratory of the Cross in the Early 1500s
Created in 2019 by Lorenzo Spolaor and Alex Caliman

View the Virtual Reconstruction

The Oratory of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista takes its name from two fragments of wood, believed to be relics of the cross on which Christ died; they were donated to the Scuola in 1369 by Philippe de Mezières, great chancellor of the order of Cyprus and Jerusalem. The important relic was received with great solemnity and was credited for a series of miraculous events in Venice that occurred between 1369 and 1480. These events are immortalized in the famous “Miracles of the True Cross” painting cycle created between 1494 and 1502, with works by Gentile Bellini, Vittore Carpaccio, Giovanni Mansueti, Lazzaro Bastiani, Benedetto Diana, and Pietro Perugino.

The virtual reconstruction of the Oratory is based on the appearance of the room between the completion of the painting cycle in 1502 and the first documented major architectural transformation of the space in 1544. The original arrangement of the canvases was first modified during the 1544 renovation when two doors were installed to create access to the new Sala dell’Albergo (board room), and again in 1568 to make room for a new stone altar designed by Gianantonio Rusconi.

In the eighteenth century, Bernardino Maccaruzzi, a pupil of Giorgio Massari, radically transformed the Oratory into the bright rococo chapel we still see today. In 1806, following the Napoleonic suppression of the Scuola, the canvases became state property and were moved to the Gallerie dell’Accademia where they have been on display since 1820.

In addition to funding the creation of the virtual reconstruction of the painting cycle in the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista, Save Venice is now endeavoring to fund the conservation of the entire True Cross Cycle in the Accademia, beginning with Vittore Carpaccio’s iconic Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross at the Rialto Bridge, and Gentile Bellini’s Miracle of the Relic of the True Cross at the Bridge of San Lorenzo and Procession in Piazza San Marco.