The Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (English: Church…

The Chiesa del Santissimo Redentore (English: Church of the Most Holy Redeemer), commonly known as Il Redentore, a sixteenth century Roman Catholic church located in the Dorsoduro sestiere of Venice, has been designed by the architect Andrea Palladio and built as a votive church to thank God for the deliverance of the city from a major outbreak of the plague that decimated Venice in 1575-76.

Located on the waterfront of the Canale della Giudecca, it dominates the skyline of the island of Giudecca.

Though the Senate had wished the Church to be square plan, Palladio had designed a single nave church with three chapels on either side.

Its prominent position on the Canale della Giudecca gave Palladio the opportunity to design a facade inspired by the Parthenon of Athens and enhanced by being placed on a wide plinth.

Fifteen steps are required to reach the church's entrance, a direct reference to the Temple of Jerusalem and complicit with Palladio's own requirement that "the ascent (of the faithful) will be gradual, so that the climbing will bring more devotion".