key words: Archangels, Basalt, Cemetery, Colonnades, Courtyards, Evangelists, Ossuary, Tombs
CEMETERY EXTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
The San Michele Cemetery in Venice, founded in 1807 and expanded in 1839, is a monumental project that has evolved for over two centuries. Originally formed from the union of San Michele and San Cristoforo della Pace islands, its latest redevelopment aims to reconcile its romantic historic image with its functional municipal character. The design strategy employs three rectangular structures for burials, cremations, and ossuaries, organised around courtyards that evoke the fifteenth-century cloister of San Michele. This shift from linear rows of tombs to courtyard enclosures creates a more intimate, reflective environment that integrates architecture with landscape.
Materiality is central to the scheme: basalt and pietra d’Istria clad the walls, while dark grey concrete colonnades reinforce the sense of permanence. Each stage builds on the typology, beginning with the Courtyard of the Four Evangelists (2007), which features smaller courtyards framed by basalt-clad walls and inscribed pavements. Later phases include the Ossuary of St John the Baptist and the Court of the Three Archangels (2017), employing red brick and exposed concrete to blend tradition with modernity.
Declared of historical and artistic interest in 2013, the project strikes a careful balance between preservation and renewal. It consolidates Venice’s burial island as both a sacred resting place and a cultural landmark that links memory, material, and architectural continuity.
CEMETERY EXTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY EXTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
CEMETERY INTERIOR - Photography: © ORCH - Orsenigo Chemollo, Ute Zscharnt, Christian Richters
SITE PLAN - © DAVID CHIPPERFIELD ARCHITECTS
