The church of San Sebastiano is the magnum opus of the great Venetian painter Paolo Veronese.  The first church on this site was an oratory founded in 1396 by the order of the Hermits of Saint Jerome. It replaced with a larger structure in 1455-68 but the building you see today dates back to design by Scarpagnino begun in 1506 and consecrated in 1562. The church and the convent next door were suppressed in 1810 by Napoleon and the convent was partially demolished before being rebuilt in 1856. It now houses the University of Venice’s department of literature and philosophy. The façade was built in 1548 and is split into two parts bounded by four pairs of Corinthian columns which support a large tympanum (top section). The statues on the top of the building are Saint Sebastian (in the middle, complete with arrow), Saint Jerome (left) and Saint Catherine of Alexandria (right). This was the local parish church of Paolo Veronese, one of the great masters of Venetian art in the late Renaissance. He is buried here, and almost all of the artworks you see inside are his. There is also a Titian inside of Saint Nicholas. The church is a ‘must-see’ destination for art lovers and is special for several reasons: the quality and consistency in the theme of the paintings; the seamless blend of art and architecture; and the fact that the art is seen in its original context (a different experience than that of trudging through a gallery – something that is much easier to experience in Venice than in many other cities of the world).  Access through the Chorus organisation here.