The History of San Stae church

San Stae is a late Baroque church in central Venice in the sestiere of Santa Croce, on the south side of the Grand Canal. San Stae is an abbreviation of the name of Saint Eustace, a Roman general who, while hunting a stag near Rome, saw a vision of Jesus between the stag’s antlers.

He converted immediately to Christianity, and had himself and his family baptized. ?onstructed by Swiss-born architect Domenico Rossi in 1709 on the foundation of an eleventh-century church, San Stae was richly decorated with vibrant sculptures by Giuseppe Torretto, Antonio Tarsia, Pietro Baratta, and Antonio Corradini.

Doge Alvise Mocenigo II is buried in the center of the church. His tomb is adorned with mosaics of skeletons; a brief inscription on it reads: «Name and ashes come together in vain burial». Among the canvases that decorate San Stae, one can find small paintings of the Apostles by famous Venetian artists such as Giambattista Piazzetta, Sebastiano Ricci and their younger contemporary Giambattista Tiepolo.

The great nineteenth-century English art critic John Ruskin wrote that San Stae was the «most ridiculous» example of «Grotesque Renaissance», as he called Baroque architecture. The American Impressionist painter John Singer Sargent, however, was attracted by the magnificence and beauty of San Stae and painted it several times in 1907.

Today San Stae hosts temporary exhibitions of art from around he world, as well as concerts – the church is known for its great acoustics.

It is also an exhibition site for the Venice Biennale.