4.07.2008

San Giorgio Maggiore, 1560





At S. Giorgio Maggiore, Palladio was faced with the challenge of combining a classical temple front with a Christian church and its high nave/low side aisle configuration. In 1460-70, Alberti had been the first to approach this situation with a remedy.
Palladio solved the problem by placing a large pediment with pilasters across the aisles, and a smaller pediment supported by the nave and monumental pilasters set on pedestals. It seems that there are two layers on the facade, the background horizontal lower story and the vertically ascending outer layer, complete with statues. The open portico adumbrated here may have been meant to extend out into a full portico, deviations may have been made due to the lack of space in the front. The church is on an island off of Venice, where it is flush with the Canal.
Notice:
- Palladian windows in the transept arms
- different materials used, especially in the dome
- niches with sculptures alternating with monumental columns on pedestals
- plasticity in center of facade, sense of projection
- interior transition from Renaissance to Baroque, removal of screens, allowance of equality in churchgoers

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