THE NEW YORK TIMES
By Elisabetta Povoledo
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| The first chapel that visitors happen on at the Vatican pavilion is the Nordic-style hut designed by Mr. Magnani and Ms. Pelzel. Credit: Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times
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There are six countries participating for the first time in the Venice Architecture Biennale, here through November, but the most surprising new entry, surely, is the Vatican. For centuries one of the world’s great patrons when it comes to public architecture, the Holy See had never, until now, strutted its stuff as part of this global architecture exhibition. However, it should not be surprising, given church tradition, that the Vatican’s pavilion consists of a pilgrimage of sorts: An installation of 10 chapels by a dozen architects in a densely wooded garden, nestled in a storied island in the Venetian lagoon. Normally, national pavilions at the Biennale tend to showcase renderings, models, and sketches documenting the creation of buildings. “Vatican Chapels,” as the pavilion is called, presents the finished buildings themselves. [
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| The Vatican’s chapels are in a garden at the Giorgio Cini Foundation on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Credit: Nadia Shira Cohen for The New York Times |
