Interior view

The Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo is the main Dominican church of Venice. It was founded in the mid-thirteenth century, the terrain was given by the doge Domenico Tiepolo to Dominican friars in 1246, after he had dreamed of a flock of white doves flying over it. The present structure seems to have been begun c. 1333. The choir is apparently late-fourteenth-century, and the consecration took place only in 1430. The church is also known as the pantheon of doges, as twenty-five of them have been buried there.

Internally the first impression is of light and air. The ultimately Cistercian origins of the plan are as clear as in many of the thirteenth-century mendicant churches in Tuscany. The unity of the main space is ensured by the narrow aisles and wide intercolumniation. The height and verticality of the nave are emphasized by the treatment of the later choir. The relationship between nave, choir, and transept chapels results in a series of finely balanced contrasts. The massive simplicity of round stone columns, leading up to simple brick pilasters and calm areas of wall, is set off by the almost skeletal delicacy of the choir. The lace-like, light-filled quality of this seven-faceted polygon is accentuated by the preceding areas of blank wall.

The photo shows the nave seen towards the choir.

View the ground plan of Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice.