Restoration of the Ancient Jewish Cemetery

Three and a half centuries of neglect and maltreatment were finally reversed in October 1999 with the completion of the comprehensive restoration of the Ancient Jewish Cemetery on the Lido, first established in 1386. Unused since the end of the seventeenth century, when the "new" cemetery was opened, the old burial ground had become overgrown with vegetation and overcrowded with tombstones, many of them randomly scattered and broken.

The recent work, financed jointly by the public authorities and a consortium of Private Committees led by Save Venice Inc. and including the World Monuments Fund, the Venice in Peril (VIP) Fund and The Comitato per il Centro Storico Ebraico di Venezia, involved the drainage, excavation and raising of a large marshy area, the restoration and partial resiting of hundreds of stones, many dating from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and the gradual rehabilitation of the vegetation. The Cemetery is now open to the public every Sunday and on certain other days by arrangement with the Jewish Museum in the Ghetto.

Lead Organization / Sector / Office : Save Venice Inc.
Associated Organization(s) : The World Monuments Fund, the Venice in Peril (VIP) Fund and The Comitato per il Centro Storico Ebraico di Venezia