The church of Sant'Agnese is a religious building in the city of Venice located in the Dorsoduro district.
The church is located a few meters away from the church of the
Gesuati, in an area that in the past housed several monasteries
belonging to different orders.
The foundation took place between
the 10th and 11th centuries even if the oldest references in official
documents date back to the end of the 11th century. In the following
centuries there were various architectural interventions, especially in
the Gothic and Baroque periods. Jacopo de' Barbari's 1500 plan also
shows the presence of a Gothic portico in front of the façade, which has
now disappeared.
In 1810 the church was closed for worship as a
result of the Napoleonic decrees and most of the internal decorations
were lost. The church returned to being used for worship in the mid-19th
century after a restoration that left little of the original structures.
It was on that occasion that the church assumed the role of oratory of
the Cavanis Institute, a role it still retains.
The last
intervention in 1939 was in fact a reconstruction that eliminated the
last remnants of the old factory, leaving the interior almost completely
bare.
The church is currently directly connected to the adjacent
convent of the Cavanis friars and to the annexed school, of which it
constitutes the private chapel, even if Sunday functions are open to the
public. The church preserves the remains of the blessed Marco and
Antonio Cavanis, founders of the congregation.
The interior of the church, while maintaining the original Romanesque
structure with three naves, was completely renovated at the beginning of
the 20th century.
The church is bare and essential, without
internal plaster, with terracotta bricks and exposed wooden beams and
without particularly important works. It is enriched only by a modern
mosaic in glass tiles on the internal wall of the apse inspired by the
typical mosaics of Byzantine and Romanesque churches. Behind the altar
The Last Supper, a mural work by the Venetian painter Ernani Costantini,
created with the fresco technique in 1968.
The ancient bell
tower, isolated from the body of the church and surmounted by a conical
spire, was demolished in the past centuries and was replaced by a bell
gable.