A Digital Archive of the Architecture of Charity: Venice, c.1100–1797

Abstract

The Architectural Visual Resources Library of the Department of Architecture, College of Environmental Design, University of California Berkeley, offers to scholars and students of Venetian social and architectural history a digital database of approximately a thousand images of 139 buildings and building sites once dedicated to acts of charity and public assistance and established by the confraternities (the Scuole), the Venetian Republic, churches and synagogues, and private donors. The images are catalogued and may be accessed at www.mip.berkeley.edu/spiro/ "Lifchez Gift” (location) “Venice.” The images of buildings mentioned here may be viewed using the “Look up Tables” with the image accession number given beside the building name. The authors’ research and field work leading to the establishment of the database began in 2002 and are ongoing.