Church of Santa Maria e San Donato
Encyclopedia
Murano
Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about 1.5 km north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 . It is famous for its glass making, particularly lampworking...
, northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It is known for its twelfth century Byzantine
Byzantine
Byzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
pavement and is said to contain the relics of Saint Donatus of Arezzo as well as large bones behind the altar said to be the bones of a dragon slain by the saint.
History
The church is one of the oldest in the Venetian lagoon. It was originally built in the 7th century and is knownn to have been rebuilt in the 9th century and in 1040 AD, although it is possible that there have been more rebuildings in later times.Development of the interiors of the church and valuable relics are related to the legendary quarreling between the parishes of this church and neighboring church of St. Stefano which lasted up to 1125, when Doge Domenico Michele
Domenico Michele
Domenico Michele was the 35th Doge of Venice. He reigned from 1117 to 1130.In August 1122 Domenico Michele led a Venetian fleet of 100 vessels and around 15,000 men for the defense of the Holy Lands. The fleet sailed under the flag of St. Peter, which the Pope had sent to Michele. Over the...
established the dominance of Santa Maria church by storing the relics of St. Donatus of Arezzo
Donatus of Arezzo
Saint Donatus of Arezzo is the patron saint of Arezzo, and considered a bishop of the city.A Passio of Donatus' life was written by a bishop of Arezzo, Severinus; it is of questionable historicity. He calls Donatus a martyr, though Donatus is described as a bishop and confessor of the faith in...
in it.
Architecture
The church and its bell tower are built of dark red-brown brick, without plastering. The bell tower stands separately. The main entrance to the church faces west, but the most impressive facade is the colonnadedColonnade
In classical architecture, a colonnade denotes a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building....
east side, which faces a canal.
The colourful stone mosaic
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
floor of the church dates from around 1140, and bears superficial repairs. The relics of San Donato are located in a marble sarcophagus.
Behind the altar there are four rib bones, hanging fron wires. The bones are more than 1 metre long. According to legend, these are bones of the dragon slain by St. Donatus in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
. It is possible that these bones are from large extinct Pleistocene
Pleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
mammals .