Particolare della facciata della Chiesa di Santa Maria Assunta a Torcello — (Archivio Bazzmann/Venipedia)

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Detail of the façade of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello - (Archivio Bazzmann/Venipedia)

The church of Santa Maria Assunta in Torcello, founded in 639, is the oldest in Venice. Restored in the 9th and 11th centuries, it has a three-nave floor plan and mosaics representing a theological path from darkness to light. Inside are works of art such as the mosaic of Christ Pantocrator and the wheel Pluteus.

An astonishing place of peace resulting from the fusion of Western and Eastern artistic influences, its set of decorative mosaics is particularly stunning.

The first building of the church - founded in 639 at the behest of the exarch of Ravenna Isacius and with the help of the magister militum Maurice - was dedicated to the Mother of God and is the oldest in Venice; this is proven by an inscription discovered in 1895, still visible to this day next to the high altar.Two major restorations followed over time: one in the mid-9th century by Bishop Adeodato II who laid the black and white mosaic floor with floral motifs, the next - at the behest of Bishop Orso Orseolo of Torcello - in the early 11th century; from this moment on, the church was named

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