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Church of Madonna dell'OrtoThis marvellous example of Gothic art is also known as the 'British church', because of the generous British funds that contributed to restore the building after the disastrous flood happened in 1966. The original structure, erected during the first half of the XIV century, was dedicated to St Christopher (saint patron of travellers), in order to protect the boatmen while moving people through the lagoon’s islands. After a statue that had been found in a nearby orto (garden) became renowned as a miracle worker, St Christopher was displaced by the Madonna dell'Orto as the church's namesake. Nonetheless, a beautiful St Christopher’s statue dated back to the XV century, has been recently restored and placed above the portal. The church offers large, luminous and tidy ashlar-work interiors. The most significant treasures are definitely represented by the three stunning Tintoretto’s leading works of art, made while he was a simple church’s parishioner. His tomb is situated into the chapel built on the right side of the presbytery. Jacopo Tintoretto’s most interesting paintings ever are most of all exhibited into the presbytery, indeed. The right wall shows The Last Judgement, whose turbulent images scared Effie, John Ruskin’s wife. The Worship of the Golden Calf represented in the left wall and commissioned as well as the The Last Judgement, shows the painter himself portrayed as the fourth person from the left. Tintoretto lived nearby the church with family, in a Gothic edifice, looking over the lagoon of Murano, which is usually described as an island in the Venetian Lagoon, although like Venice itself it is actually an archipelago. Inside St Mauro Chapel you will finally be able to admire the recently restored Madonna statue, attributed to Giovanni Li Santi, that inspired the church’s builders so many years ago. Of a totally different texture and scope than Tintoretto's paintings is the fresh and luminous masterpiece by Cima da Conegliano, St John the Baptist and Saints (1492), which seems to be a concentrated effort to represent peace, both within the soul and in the surrounding world. The vacant opposite space (first chapel to the left) displays a photographic reproduction of the marvellous Madonna with Child, Giovanni Bellini’s maturity masterpiece, whose original was stolen for the third time in March 1993. The church is open to visits: Monday to Saturday, 10 am - 5 pm; Sunday, 1 pm - 5 pm. Closed on Sunday in July and August.
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