“La Certosa”
2001
Media: mixed on board
Size: 102x 102 cm
La Certosa is the largest and most historically rich of the abandoned islands. Once the island was two, divided by a canal which was subsequently filled in. In 1199 the Bishop of Castello sent Domenico Franco there to be the priest, and he built a church and monastery dedicated to St Andrew the Apostle, a former name of the island. It became a place of prayer looked after by the Augustinian Friars. After a year, another church and monastery were built dedicated to Saint Euphemia, Dorothy and Thecla. The Augustinians left the island in 1419.
In 1422 Saint Bernard of Siena suggested the monastery and church be given to the Carthusians of Florence, whence the island got its name Saint Bruno (founder of the Carthusians) or “La Certosa” (The Charterhouse). The friars restored the dilapidated buildings and rebuilt the church according to designs by Pietro Lombardo. The Carthusians stayed on the island until 1806 and decorated their church with famous works by Titian, Tintoretto, Andrea da Murano, Basaiti, Vivarini and others. Over the course of the Serenissima Republic, many famous names were buried in the monastery cloisters and the church: from Luigi Grimani to Nicolo’ Cornaro, Morosini to Barbarigo, the Pisani to the Giustiniani, all names featuring in various epochs of Venetian history.
Plans were made for the island to become a cemetery for the city of Venice, however Napoleon handed La Certosa over to the army. The island was stripped of its treasures and became a military base, first for the French, then the Austrians, and finally the Italian government built an explosives factory on it. The island is now destined to become a public park and small port.
