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FRARI’S CHURCH
The Church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari represents the austere but extraordinary beauty that only Gothic style succeeded in giving to aesthetics history. The Church is majestic in its length and in its characteristic verticality. It had been constructed, as we can see it nowadays, during almost 100 years (1250-1338). Its name is of easy comprehension: it has been a Franciscan monastery since its beginning.

The interior of the building enchants for the compactness and the strength, while the exterior surprises for the magnificence of the vault and for the numberless, superb details, that might be the main attraction of every museum in the world.

The three works you don’t have to miss are the Titian’s Assunta of 1518, the Madonna with the Infant by Bellini and the Friars’ Wooden Choir:

ASSUNTA BY TIZIANO
Titian’s painting is incredible for its dimensions, almost 7 by 4 meters, and also because it is very rich in colours. The Virgin is supported by a crowd of angels and acclaimed by the apostles, the tension of the Virgin toward the sky is sublimely expressed, the crossing of sights and the symbology are at the highest degree.

The cherub angel supports the crown symbolizing the divine glory, but his look is direct toward God. Titian’s symbolic innovation has to be emphasized: indeed in this painting the Virgin is received by God, not by Jesus.

MADONNA WITH THE INFANT BY GIOVANNI BELLINI
An other representation of the Madonna, but this time it emerges the filial theme. The painting is a classical altar-piece composed by three elements. In the middle the Madonna with the Infant stand out and, on their sides, two per part, there are four saints: Nicola, Peter, Mark, and Bennet.

Peace and serenity of the painting are extraordinary and they are highlighted, above all, from the Madonna’s face. It is very peculiar the position of the Infant, who daringly stands on his feet, as if he watched over the saints under him. This Bellini’s work is considered the most representative of the Venetian Renaissance by a lot of people.

FRIARS’ WOODEN CHOIR
Superb and perfect: these are the most right adjectives that have to be used for this wooden choir, carved by the famous Cozzi family from Vicenza. Its measures are amazing: 4,50 meters high, 13,70 meters wide and 16 meters long; there are 124 seats, 50 of them are in the upper part, 40 in the middle and 34 in the lower part.

The seats are real wooden “paintings” that deserve to be admired one by one for the mastery and the artistic value of the representation.

Many other works make the visit to the Frari’s church an essential halting-place for the historic and artistic knowledge of Venice. Among those we want to remind the marble Jubè (architectonic element that is placed between the choir and the cross-vault to determine the area reserved to the monks) decorated with marvellous sculptures and bas-relieves. In the central arch of the Jubè the prospective scenario which frames the Assunta by Titian leaves the spectators speechless. To pause: funeral monument to Canova, to Tiziano and to the Doge Francesco Foscari, and the wooden sculpture by Donatello representing Saint John the Baptist.

Schedule: week-days: from 9a.m. to 6p.m.  Sunday and Holidays: from 1p.m to 6p.m.

There is an admittance ticket that, even if it is unusual to enter a church, is necessary to preserve the greatest masterpieces housed in the interior and the architectonic structure in itself.