Project Description

Main Portal of the Church of Sant’Elena, (ca. 1467)
Church of Sant’Elena, Venice

Project
Restoration of the Main Portal

Location
Church of Sant’Elena, Venice

Project Director
Ministry of Culture, Monuments and
Fine Arts Office of Venice

Contractors
Il Cenacolo s.r.l., Venice
ALtech s.r.l., Venice

Funding
Mr. and Mrs. Donald K. Miller
Venetian Heritage

Start date
April 2002

End date
November 2002

Cost
60.600,00 €

The monumental entrance to the Church of Sant’Elena, ca. 1467, commemorates Admiral Vittore Cappello. Made of Istrian stone and marble, the expressive sculpture is worked entirely in the round. After many years of neglect it was in urgent need of both surface and structural restoration. Most of the surface damage was due to years of environmental pollution; the marble sculptures had blackened and showed signs of disintegration and in some places fragments had actually been lost.
In the past this work was erroneously attributed to Antonio Rizzo and Antonio Dentone. Dr. Anne Markham Schulz’s studies attributed it to Niccolò di Giovanni Fiorentino, whose sculpture played a decisive role in Dalmatian art for more than one century. He is the master responsible for the construction of the Orsini Chapel in Trogir, which has been restored with funds from Venetian Heritage.
Il Cenacolo Srl carried out the preliminary chemical and physical tests and Mr Frank Becker, an engineer, carried out the survey drawings of the building. Mr Giancarlo Calcagno, an architect, was in charge of the restoration of the portal.