This beautiful building is located just next to the beautiful Basilica of Saint John and Paul. Its façade is simply an architectural masterpiece that hides an entrance to a modern hospital. However, on the first floor of the building there are still two rooms that belonged to this great school and that are certainly worth visiting.
The area that can be visited is located in the current hospital Ospedale SS. Giovanni e Paolo in Venice, right next to an important religious and tourist attraction - The Basilica of Saint John and Paul. In the beautiful building that once belonged to The Gran School of San Marco, there are two rooms on the first floor that can nowadays be visited. Sala Capitolare hosts numerous objects that belong to the museum of medicine and that show the progress of medicine both through the illustrations of human organs and equipment that was once used for treating different diseases. Apart from medical equipment, you can also enjoy beautiful decoration of the room as well as the art pieces exhibited on the walls.
The other room, called Sala dell’Albergo, displays some of the very well-known works of art (painted on leather and in large formats) such as: Preaching of Saint Mark in Alexandria (the original is located in Brera Gallery in Milan).
This building once belonged to San Mark Great School in Venice. The Great Schools were very important organization in the Venetian Republic. These schools were confraternities that had charitable and religious roles in the society. They were also acknowledged as having a great role in the development of music in the city. Therefore, they would usually be occupied for the purposes of processions and festivities, giving out the money, clothes and food etc. Usually, these great schools had two chambers: a larger saloon where Capitolo board (the board that elected officers of the School) could meet and a small room called albergo where boards entrusted in keeping accounts and auditing the accounts could meet. This is why the two rooms that can be visited in The Great School of San Marko are called Sala Capitolare and Sala dell’Albergo.
After the Venetian Republic lost its independence, the Austrians transformed the building into a military hospital, while today it is a civic hospital of Venice.
It is important to mention that another Great School of Venice is the Great School of San Rocco, one of very important tourist attractions for modern tourists in Venice.
Ticket prices for the Great School of San Marko in Venice
Regular ticket price is 5 Euros (€) (≈5.60$).
Reduced ticket price is 3 Euros (€) (≈3.40$).
Working hours of the Great School of San Marko in Venice
Working hours of the Great School are: Tuesday-Saturday 09:30-13:00 / 14:00-17:00h.
We advise you to check the working hours before visiting on the official web site of the Great School of San Marko in Venice.
