Description of the attraction
San Pietro Martyre is a Roman Catholic church on the island of Murano in Venice. It was built in 1348 together with a Dominican monastery and was originally dedicated to St. John the Baptist. In 1474, the building of the temple burned down, and only in 1511 was it rebuilt in the form in which it has survived to this day. At the beginning of the 19th century, just a few years after the fall of the once mighty Venetian Republic, the church was closed, but not for long - already in 1813 it again received parishioners. Today San Pietro Martyre is one of the two main parish churches on the island of Murano.
The facade of the building is made of masonry and is divided into three sections. In the center is a 16th century portal, and above it is a huge round rosette window. Attached to the left façade is a portico with Renaissance arcades and columns, which are probably fragments of the original cloister. There is also a bell tower built in 1498-1502.
Inside, the church of San Pietro Martyre is divided into three naves, which are separated from each other by rows of huge columns. The ceiling of the temple is wooden. The presbytery is quite large in size, with cylindrical vaults and two small side chapels. In addition to the main altar and the altars in the chapels, there are six other small altars in the church - three in each side chapel.
The interior of the temple is decorated with numerous works of art. Among them - "The Baptism of Christ", attributed to the brush of Tintoretto in the right nave, the work of Giovanni Bellini in the same place and the altarpiece of Barbarigo, brought here from the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. In the right wing is the Ballarin family chapel, built in 1506 and dedicated to Saints Mary and Joseph. In this chapel there is a tombstone of one of the important ministers of the Venetian Republic - Giovanni Battista Ballarin, who died in 1666. Also worth noting are paintings by Paolo Veronese, Giovanni Agostino da Lodi, Giuseppe Porta and some other Venetian painters.
