Church of San Michele: The Cemetery Church of Venice
Picture by Gary Huston 06.08.2005
The island of San Michele
is located four hundred metres north-east of Venice from which it is
separated by the Canale delle Fondamente Nuove.
The island was formerly a fishing port and served as a final stopover
for travellers to Venice. A Franciscan monastery was established there
in the tenth century and prospered to such an extent that by 1469 its
monks were able to commission the construction of Venice's first
renaissance church, the San Michele in Isola.
The San Michele in Isola, designed by Mauro Codussi, was constructed in
white Istrian stone with a nave and two aisles. The interior of the
church is calm and austere and is adjoined by a funerary chapel, the
Cappella Emiliani. The monk's cloister, notable for its classical
colonnades, is located at the rear of the church.
© Daniel Horn - FOTOLIA
The monks endeavour to
preserve the calm dignified atmosphere on San Michele. The cemetery is
buttressed from the sea by a low brick wall and interspersed with
ornamental cypress trees. It was formerly part of the abbey's extensive
gardens.
The cemetery begins immediately behind the cloister, and the graves
become progressively more numerous until virtually every space is
covered with tombs and monuments of every shape, size and design
© Marek Slusarczyk - FOTOLIA
© Julien Colbeau - FOTOLIA
The cemetery is in fact
located on the former island of San Cristoforo which was once separated
from San Michele by a narrow channel filled with rubble in 1836. It was
established by the French who prohibited burials in Venice after they
invaded the city in 1797.
San Michele was also used as a prison island during the mid-19th
century.
Several celebrities are buried on the island. The likes of Ignor
Stravinksy and Ezra Pound were taken there on funerary barges, laid out
in the Cappella Emiliani, and interred in splendid tombs.
Unlike many laid to rest on San Michele, their remains will not be
disinterred after a few decades, and deposited in a communal pit in
order to make space for new arrivals.
The Island of San Michele can be reached by vaporetto from the
Fondamente Nuove. The crossing takes less than ten minutes.
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