Santa Maria Zobenigo
Baroque church facade carved with maps of a naval admiral's postings instead of saints, honoring his family alone.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Santa Maria Zobenigo in Venice explains why its facade carries no saints, no cross, and no image of Christ. It follows Admiral Antonio Barbaro, who paid for the church's 1678 rebuilding and had architect Giuseppe Sardi cover the stone with maps of his own postings and statues of his family instead. Historians still raise an eyebrow at the word admiral, given how those Venetian naval campaigns actually went.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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