San Stae Church
Sant Stae is a popular nickname of the Saint to whom is dedicated: Saint Eustacchio and martyrs. It is situated on the Sestiere of Santa Croce in front of the Grand Canal.
It is easily reachable, in front of the church there is the San Stae public boat stop (Line 1).
Its origins are still mysterious due to the lack of ancient documents to testify the existence from a certain date, the first evidence of its existence it’ s on a document from 1127.
Its façade is an artwork by Domenico Rossi (1709), finely decorated and embellished with roccocò style statue. Also the interiors, from the same era, are enriched with operas and canvas by Ricci, Piazzetta, Pitoni, Tiepolo: inestimable artworks!!!
The building consist on a unique nave with three chapel by each side, one of those is by the School of Battioro and Tiraoro which is adjacent to the church and was decorated by painter Antonio Balestra (1666-1740).
In the nave centre there is the tombstone of Mocenigo Family (a very important Venetian family (who gave 7 Doges to the Republic).
The presbytery is decorated with beautiful and important canvases, even if those are considered minors because of their dimensions. Those are all dedicated to the Apostles, to be remembered the Martyr of San Bartolomeo (an opera by a very young Giambattista Tiepolo) the freeing of San Pietro by Sebastiano Ricci, and the martyr of San Giacomo Maggiore by Giambattista Piazzetta.
The Church hosted various exibithions (2008 Concetto Pozati and 2007 Pierre Casè) at present it is the site of theBiennale Swisse Pavilion (until November 22nd 2009)
