churches and the poor in campielli dei morti, or ‘little
ields of the dead’, which sound deeply romantic but in
reality were hellishly dank, overcrowded scraps of land.
The campielli were inally closed in 1837, thanks to
reforms introduced under the Napoleonic occupation,
and the city’s departed began to be shipped across the
lagoon to San Michele, which from then on was
devoted entirely to the dead. Surrounded by high walls
and shaded with cypress trees, the island is a haunting
spot. But it’s also quietly lively: the pressure of space is
such that most tombs have to be vacated after just ten
to 12 years, so plots are visited on a regular basis and
decorated with lowers left by those for whom their
loved ones’ memory is often all too fresh.
Given the reined modernism of Chipperield’s
designs, one might think that lorid inscriptions and
loral tributes would be, to use an architect’s cliché,
unwelcome interventions. Yet Zampieri seems
unworried. ‘Our design is intended to create a general
unity and a sense of dignity, but not to control every
detail,’ he says. ‘We have left space for inscriptions and
lowers, and we are relaxed about how visitors will
introduce their own items – though of course we hope
that they ind the courtyards beautiful resting places
that do not need too much embellishment.’
Chipperield’s cloistered courtyards are, indeed,
digniied and beautiful. As Zampieri points out,
Venice is a city of enclosed public spaces, and the new
buildings on San Michele ‘ofer a model for a series
of spaces that can be interconnected, difering in size
but sharing similar characteristics. The island has been
in constant development for 200 years, and will likely
continue to develop in the future, so it was important
to ind a device that can be used in varying ways.’ ∂
davidchipperield.comLEFT, NEW TREES HAVE BEEN
PLANTED TO MATCH THE REST
OF THE ISLAND CEMETERY,
WHICH IS DOTTED WITH
GARDENS AND CYPRESS TREES
BELOW, THE OSSUARY IS MADE
OF ISTRIAN STONE, A TYPE OF
NON-POROUS LIMESTONE
THAT IS QUARRIED IN NEARBY
CROATIA AND HAS BEEN USED
TO BUILD MANY OF VENICE’S
PALACES AND MONUMENTS,
AND LINE ITS CANALS‘Our design is intended to create a general unity
and a sense of dignit y,’ says Zampieri
Architecture
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