Scuola Grande di San Marco

Medical museum housed in a grand confraternity building dedicated to the patron saint of Venice.

Scuole Grandi Without Crowds

Sestiere Castello

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Ospedale (9-min walk)

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www.scuolagrandesanmarco.it

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+39 041 529 4323

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Standard admission is €8.

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What makes it special

First Scuola Grande

Founded as the Scuola dei Battuti in 1260, this was the first of Venice’s Scuole Grandi. Its influence grew so much that in 1437, it adopted the name of the city’s patron saint.

Exquisite facade

Spectacular statues of fantastical creatures adorn the facade, while the ground floor is especially striking for its trompe-l'œil sculpted archways and portals, crafted from a rich variety of marbles.

The most spectacular hospital entrance

Once a military hospital during the Austrian occupation, this grand building now forms part of Venice’s Civic Hospital — and yes, people still enter through its imnpressive ground floor every day.

A grand Chapter Hall

Upstairs, the grand Chapter Hall (Sala Capitolare) dazzles with its gilded ceiling and original large canvases.

Medical Museum

The same hall now hosts a small museum showcasing antique medical books and curious instruments from the history of medicine.

Scuola di San Marco : While visiting this museum, you can appreciate the vast interior of Sala Capitolare and the spectacular gilded ceiling

Open Gallery for more insights

Your experience here

Take in the exquisite facade from Ponte Cavallo or while relaxing at a terrace in the campo.
Step into the grand upstairs hall and look up: the vast coffered wooden ceiling is truly spectacular.
Be amazed by how far medicine has come (and relieved such tools you see in the museum are no longer in use).

Open Gallery to get the feel

Connect the dots

San Marco

Mark the Evangelist is the patron saint of Venice, and the winged Lion of Saint Mark is the city's enduring symbol.

According to legend, St. Mark’s relics were smuggled out of Egypt by two cunning Venetian merchants.

If you're having second thoughts about visiting the city’s cathedral where those relics rest — don’t.

Basilica di San Marco is a grandiose spectacle, its vast interior completely covered in intricate mosaics crafted over the span of eight centuries.

Explore Basilica di San Marco

The original art

Two of Tintoretto’s original paintings for the Scuola can now be admired at Gallerie dell'Accademia.

Saint Mark’s Body Brought to Venice depicts an unexpected hailstorm scattering the pagans who intended to burn the saint’s corpse, allowing Christians to recover it.

The other, Saint Mark Rescuing the Slave (1548), captures a dramatic miracle as the evangelist swoops into the scene mid-flight, shattering the instruments of torture to save a faithful slave from martyrdom.