San Giorgio Monastery

The San Giorgio Monastery (English: St. George Monastery) was a Benedictine monastery in Venice, Italy, located on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. It stands next to the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore, which formerly served the monastic community, and currently serves as the headquarters of the Cini Foundation.

The monastery was founded in AD 982 following the donation of the island by the Doge Tribuno Memmo in response to a request by the Blessed John Morosini, O.S.B., who wished to establish a monastery there, and who then became the first abbot. Among the first monks of the community which developed there was St. Gerard (Hungarian: ''Szent Gellért) (980-1046), a bishop and martyr who helped establish Christianity in Hungary. He was murdered in Budapest—on the hill which now bears his name—in the course of a pagan insurrection against the Venetian king then ruling the Hungarians.

Over the centuries the monastery became a theological, cultural and artistic center of primary importance in Europe. The monks had considerable autonomy and close links with Florence and Padua, and thus it became also a favored location for foreign dignitaries to stay while in the city. In 1177 Pope Alexander III and Frederick Barbarossa met here. In 1223 a violent earthquake destroyed the monastery. In 1433 Cosimo de' Medici, when exiled from Florence, took refuge here.

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