Scuola Grande di San Marco

The Scuola Grande di San Marco is a building in Venice, designed by the well-known Venetian architects Pietro Lombardo, Mauro Codussi, and Bartolomeo Bon. It was originally the home to one of the Scuole Grandi of Venice, or six major confraternities, but is now the city’s hospital. The edifice was built by the Confraternity of San Marco in 1260. In 1485, however, it was destroyed by a large fire, and rebuilt in the following twenty years under a new design by Pietro Lombardo, with a fund established by the members. The façade, a masterwork with delicately decorated niches and pilasters, and with white or polychrome marble statues, was later completed by Mauro Codussi. It faces the Campo San Giovanni e Paolo, one of the largest squares in the city.