Santo Stefano is the third largest monastery church in Venice. Built by the Augustinian Hermits in the 13th century, it was re-structured a century later, and subsequent embellishments made it into one of the finest examples of Venetian Flamboyant Gothic architectures. On the fourteenth-century façade in brick, the superb marble portal is highly underlined, work by Bartolomeo Bon. The church was reconsecrated in 1374.
The sacristy contains a veritable museum with some of the great names in Venetian Renaissance art. On the side walls there is the 'Last Supper' (1579-80), 'The Risen' (1565 ca.), 'Christ Washing the Apostles Feet' (1579-80), and 'Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane' (1579-80) by Jacopo Tintoretto, works contemporaneously realized for Scuola di San Rocco, and a 'Sacred Family with Maria Maddalena and Saint Caterina' (1528-30) by Bonifacio De 'Pitati.
Of other significance there is 'Saint Nicola from Bari' and 'Saint Lorenzo' (1475 ca.) by Bartolomeo Vivarini which both place side by side to 'The Crucifixion' (1775 ca.) by Giuseppe Angeli; above there is the 'Martyrdom of Saint Stefano' (1630 ca. - 1638) by Sante Peranda.
On the opposite side you will find 'The Escape from Egypt', 'The Adoration of the Magicians', and the 'Massacre of the Innocents' (1733) by Gaspare Diziani.
In the sacristy there is also a museum of sculpturs where a fine sculptur of 'Saint Sebastiano' by Tullio Lombardo is found. Such as 'Saint Andrea' and 'Saint Girolamo' (1476-1480 ca.) by Pietro Lombardo and his assistants, and a beautiful sculpture by Antonio Canova; the 'Stele Funeraria del Senatore Giovanni Falier' (1808).
References:Visby Cathedral (also known as St. Mary’s Church) is the only survived medieval church in Visby. It was originally built for German merchants and inaugurated in 1225. Around the year 1350 the church was enlarged and converted into a basilica. The two-storey magazine was also added then above the nave as a warehouse for merchants.
Following the Reformation, the church was transformed into a parish church for the town of Visby. All other churches were abandoned. Shortly after the Reformation, in 1572, Gotland was made into its own Diocese, and the church designated its cathedral.
There is not much left of the original interior. The font is made of local red marble in the 13th century. The pulpit was made in Lübeck in 1684. There are 400 graves under the church floor.