Churches in Venice

Hi Annie, that is an amazing shrine. I don't think I read your entry on the Greek Orthodox Church before. It's a very beautiful church and I enjoyed reading about it. Great photos.

Thanks so much for sharing.

Talking of dragons; we went to see the dragon bones in SS Maria e Donato while we were in Venice last week. All down to your info on here. Thanks.

Thanks Kathy!

Andrew, that's exciting. So you actually got to see the bones? I love that church so much especially the floors. I hope you had a wonderful trip to Venice!

Wonderful, Annie! I do love images of St. George and his dragon. Someday I must see the dragon's bones!

Annie,

Wonderful images. My wife and I love Venice and all it offers. I know the top St. George and the Dragon and have photographed it myself. I have never seen the second one with the orange background. Do you remember where in Venice you took that photograph?

Thanks,

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence, it's funny that you asked about that one! When I posted this last year, I knew that it was somewhere in Cannaregio but I wasn't sure where. Then my friend Bert told me that it's on the Hotel Giorgione.

Thanks for stopping by...it's always nice to meet other lovers of Venice.

Thank you Annie. I know right where that is. I have identified 22 reliefs of St. George and the Dragon in Venice. I now have only one left that I don't know where it is. By the way, if you haven't used it before the website
www.PreserVenice.org is excellent for locating what they call "street art" in Venice. Click on Catalogues and then Erratic Sculpture to see all of their sub-categories. While their collection is exceptional, I have in fact found four St. George and the Dragon reliefs that they do not have in their database.
Can't wait to get back to Venice to take more photographs.

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence, are your photos of the 22 reliefs on view on the web anywhere? I'd love to see them. I just checked and I've only photographed 10 of them.

I have looked at PreserVenice before but I think the Catalogue section has been updated so thanks for reminding me of that site.

Several years ago, the Anglican church had a San Giorgio scavenger hunt for a fundraiser (I didn't participate, only read about it). They gave everyone a list of clues to help them find St. George reliefs all over Venice. Their website used to say that they would give out copies of the clues for a small donation but that part is gone now. But maybe they still do?

Thanks again for your comments!

Annie,

I do not have a website where photos of the St. George and the Dragon (St G&D) reliefs that I have located are posted. In fact, I have personally photographed only 6 of the 22 for which I’ve been able to locate photographs. The others I’ve found on the PreserVenice site or through Google searches. Also, I use the term relief a little loosely, a couple of the St G&D reliefs I’ve located are probably more properly identified as lunettes or street alters. I would be happy to send you the 22 images I have, however, I did not see a way to post them to the comment box.

I note that 4 of the 6 reliefs I’ve photographed are not on the PreserVenice site. The site claims that Alberto Rizzi’s book Scultura Esterna A Venezia, which they used as a starting point, identifies 16 St. G&D reliefs throughout Venice but I did not find 16 in the PreserVenice on-line catalogue. Of the 22 photographs that I’ve found, two are probably of San Teodoro and a dragon not St. George, two could be called lunettes rather than reliefs, two are on a wellhead and one might be more properly identified as a street alter. That leaves 15 that are true reliefs. I cannot find Rizzi’s book on-line so I do not know which are in his catalogue. I’m hoping my favorite bookstore in Venice (Libreria Sansovino) will have it the next time I am there.

Are the ten St. G&Ds you’ve photographed posted? I’d love to see them.

Lawrence

Hi Lawrence, I've posted a few of them on my blog but they are scattered around. You've inspired me to make a set and post them all together sometime soon.

A while back, I started making a list of St. G&D locations any time I saw one mentioned; I'll post that too and maybe you can add to it.

About the Rizzi book....it's out of print and I've heard that used copies can sell for 300 euro or more! I know a couple of people who found it in university libraries and were able to check it out.

Do you know about bookstore Fillippi in Venice? Tons of books about Venice including reprints of some old and out-of-print books.

Fillippi has two locations, not that far from each other.

Castello 5763, Calle del Paradiso (the main branch)

Castello 5284 (Cassieria)

Talk soon, Annie

Hi again Lawrence, I just emailed my list to you.

Hi,

Thank you for posting these photos. This is fantastic. Does anyone know why there are so many images of St. George in Venice? What is the connection?

Thanks,
Steph

Hi Steph, he's a very popular saint in Venice. There's one legend that connects him to the gondoliers - at one time, people believed that there was a dragon in the lagoon and the gondoliers' oars were like the sword that kept him under control. Read that in the book "Secret Venice."

In many cases, the buildings that have a relief of St. George on then used to be owned by the San Giorgio Maggiore monastery or by the Greek church.

It is interesting! Thanks for your comment.

Hi Annie,

Thank you so much for the information! It's really fascinating. "Secret Venice" sounds like a good book - worth picking up.

All the best,
Steph

What about the 3 huge Ribs of the dragon slain by St. George, in the church at Murano?

http://www.slowtrav.com/blog/annienc/2010/03/dragon_bones.html

Hi Thomas, here are some photos of those bones in the Murano basilica.