The Brion tomb, also known as the Brion sanctuary and Brion-Vega tomb, in San Vito d'Altivole near

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, is the burial ground of the Brion family. It was designed by Venetian architect

Carlo Scarpa Carlo Scarpa (2 June 1906 – 28 November 1978) was an Italian architect, influenced by the materials, landscape and the history of Venetian culture, and by Japan. Scarpa translated his interests in history, regionalism, invention, and the tec ...

between 1968–1978 as an L-shaped extension to the adjacent municipal

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite or graveyard is a place where the remains of dead people are buried or otherwise interred. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek , "sleeping place") implies that the land is specifically designated as a buri ...

. It is regarded as a masterpiece of

modernist architecture Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that form ...

and a powerful commemorative monument. Scarpa felt that "the place for the dead is a garden" and is himself buried adjacent to the Brion sanctuary. File:Tomba brion (2022) 41.jpg, alt= File:Tomba brion (2022) 24.jpg, alt= File:Tomba brion (2022) 34.jpg, alt= File:Tomba brion (2022) 07.jpg, alt= File:Tomba brion (2022) 11.jpg, alt= File:Tomba brion (2022) 29.jpg, alt=

Commission

The monumental project was commissioned in 1969 by Onorina Tomasin, widow of Giuseppe Brion, the founder of the

Brionvega Brionvega is an Italian electronics company that is known for manufacturing futuristic televisions and audio equipment. The company was founded in 1939 by Giuseppe Brion and Leone Pajettain in Milan. Initially named B.P.M. Radio, the company w ...

company. The enclosure is a private burial ground for the Brion family. Their twinned

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a cadaver, corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from ...

are central to the composition.

Composition and design

The sanctuary is designed as a composition of concrete buildings with distinctive detailing set in gardens with water features. It has been described as "both a meditation on death and an evocation of a particular magical city,

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

". Scarpa has been quoted as saying "I like water very much, perhaps because I am Venetian ..." Scarpa began designing this addition to the existing municipal cemetery of San Vito d'Altivole in 1968. Although he continued to consider changes to the project, it was completed before his accidental death in Japan in 1978. Several discrete elements comprise the family burial site: a sloped concrete enclosing wall, two distinct entrances, a small chapel, two covered burial areas (the

arcosolium An arcosolium, plural arcosolia, is an arched recess used as a place of entombment. The word is from Latin , "arch", and , "throne" (literally "place of state") or post-classical "sarcophagus". Early arcosolia were carved out of the living rock ...

for Giuseppe and Onorina Brion, and one for other family members). The "viewing device" of the pavilion of meditation suggests a

vesica piscis The vesica piscis is a type of lens, a mathematical shape formed by the intersection of two disks with the same radius, intersecting in such a way that the center of each disk lies on the perimeter of the other. In Latin, "vesica piscis" literal ...

, a recurring motif in Scarpa's architecture. Venetian influences such as the gold tiles familiar from

Byzantine mosaics Byzantine mosaics are mosaics produced from the 4th to 15th centuries in and under the influence of the Byzantine Empire. Mosaics were some of the most popular and historically significant art forms produced in the empire, and they are still stud ...

and Japanese influences such as the tea-room inspiration of the chapel are evident in the design. In the garden are a dense grove of cypresses, a prato (lawn), and a private meditation/viewing pavilion, separated from the main prato by a separate and locked entrance, and a heavily vegetated reflecting pool.

Restoration

A conservation restoration of the Brion tomb was completed in September 2021.

In popular culture

The Brion tomb was used for filming of '' Dune: Part Two'' in July 2022.

References

External links

Computer model of the cemetery

* {{Find a Grave cemetery Modernist architecture in Italy Cemeteries in Italy Buildings and structures in the Province of Treviso Tourist attractions in Veneto Architectural design