Hercules Brabazon Brabazon (1821-1906)

The great baroque church of Santa Maria della Salute, standing at the entrance to the Grand Canal, is one of the most imposing architectural landmarks in Venice. The church was built in thanksgiving for the deliverance of the city from the plague in 1630. Baldassare Longhena started the church in 1630 and worked on it for the rest of his life, though it was not completed until 1687, some five years after his death. The buildings of the Dogana (the customs house) lie to the left and the former abbey of San Gregorio, now a restoration laboratory, to the right.