The historic church of the Misericordia Abbey is on sale in Venice
VENICE – Historic Venice for sale little church of the Abbey of Mercy, which in the past was also a film and session set for the Biennale. Located in Cannaregio district, overlooking the homonymous campo, between the 70s and 80s the church was the set of films such as ‘Moonraker – Space Operation’, part of the James Bond 007 series, and ‘Nosferatu in Venice’. More recently the building has hosted art exhibitions of the Venice Biennale. Also in the next Biennale Arte it will be the seat of the National Pavilion of Holland. The church of the Abbey of Mercy – which is located behind the larger complex of the Scuola Grande della Misericordia – was much talked about in 2015, when the national pavilion of Iceland hosted a performance by the Swiss artist Christoph Büchel entitled The Mosque: The first mosque in the historic city of Venice (The Mosque: the first mosque in the historic center of Venice), constituted by a real place of worship for faithful faithful with a lot of mihrāb in Mecca.
In 2017 it hosted the Do Ut Des exhibition by the popular boxer-artist Omar Hassan. Founded in the 10th century, the church is one of the oldest in Venice. Having become private property, it is now on sale by Lionard SpA, a leading company in Italy in the luxury real estate sector. The interior of the deconsecrated church consists of a single nave with a gable roof and extends for 350 square meters. The external stone facade is structured around a giant central order dominated by an arched tympanum and surrounded by two trabeated wings. The top of the pediment is crowned by the statue of the Virgin, while the edges of the wings are pinecone-shaped acroteri. On the high protruding bases of the giant order there are two allegorical statues (the Charity and the Fortress); above the portal, in front of the rose window, the bust of Gasparo Moro accompanied by a scroll and sorrowful cherubs seated on books. All the sculptures are the work of Clemente Molli, who probably also designed the façade. The bell tower is in the Venetian-Byzantine style.