Other Restorations
Church of San Samuele | Church of San Lio | Monumental Arch | Cornaro Chapel | Saint Mark Healing the Cobbler Anianus | Four Wooden Poles | Façade of Scuola Dalmata | Sarcophagus of Giovanni Priuli | Marco Polo Arch | Tombstones, New Jewish Cemetery, Lido |   Bernabò Chapel and Relief of the Coronation of the Virgin | Photographs of Venetian Architecture and Sculpture  |  19th-Century Glass-Plate Negatives of Venice from the Ferdinando Ongania Collection  |  St. Martin and the Beggar  | Madonna with Child and St. Peter |  Crucifix

Tombstones, New Jewish Cemetery, Lido

Artists: Anonymous, 16-18th-century Venetian stone craftsmen
Location: New Jewish Cemetery, Lido
Medium: Istrian Stone
Proposed treatment: Cleaning and consolidation
Sponsored by: The Boston Chapter, Save Venice Inc.

The first Jewish cemetery in Venice was founded on the Lido in 1386. The location of the land granted to the Jewish Community proved problematic, however, as the Venetian Republic's military considered it ideal for interventions to protect Venice from invaders from the sea. As a result, the Venetian government took back cemetery land for military use and displaced tombstones several times over the centuries. Eventually, the cemetery was reduced to one-sixth of its original size and nearly abandoned. In 1774, the Jewish Community was granted a vast area of the Lido. This became known as the New Cemetery, which continues to this day to be the burial ground for the Jewish Community in Venice.

A program initiated in 1989 by the Superintendency of Fine Arts of Venice aims to restore individual sixteenth- through eighteenth-century tombstones now located in the New Cemetery. 24 tombstones are still in need of restoration. These salvaged monuments are being restored and added to the "New Lapidarium," a section of the New Cemetery which exhibits over 100 historic tombstones. Made of Istrian stone and finely carved with family crests and Hebrew inscriptions, these tombstones have been ravaged by time and attacked by algae, lichens and humidity. Restoration includes disinfestation, cleaning, consolidation of cracked and missing pieces and the application of a protective finish. Restoration will not only preserve the tombstones but will allow them to be catalogued, their inscriptions transcribed and their dimensions recorded.

Photo: Karen L. Marshall