Gothic bas-relief on the facade The church of Sant'Aponal is a deconsecrated

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

church in the sestiere of

San Polo San Polo () is the smallest and most central of the six sestieri of Venice, northern Italy, covering 86 acres (35 hectares) along the Grand Canal. It is one of the oldest parts of the city, having been settled before the ninth cent ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. The church was founded in the 11th century, by refugees from

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

and dedicated to

Apollinaris of Ravenna Apollinaris of Ravenna (; , ''Apollinarios'', Late Latin: ''Apolenaris'') is a Syrian saint, whom the Roman Martyrology describes as "a bishop who, according to tradition, while spreading among the nations the unsearchable riches of Christ, led h ...

. Restored over the centuries, it underwent major reconstruction in the 15th century. During the Napoleonic occupation, it was deconsecrated and only reconsecrated in 1851. For a time it was used as a prison for political prisoners. It was re-closed in 1984, and is now mainly an archive. The facade retains bits of

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

decoration.

Sources

Patriarch of Venice, entry on church
*Guide d'Italia (serie Guide Rosse) - Venezia - Touring Club Italiano - pagg. 384-385 Roman Catholic churches in Venice 15th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Gothic architecture in Venice {{Veneto-RC-church-stub