Scrovegni Chapel in Padua with Giotto’s frescoes nearly demolished in the 19th century

The Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. Consecrated on the feast of the Annunciation in 1303 and dedicated to the Virgin. The frescoes are by Giotto.

Now a world-famous masterpiece of proto-Renaissance church decoration, the Scrovegni Chapel, built for the private use of a single family, became extraordinarily popular for its beauty almost at once. But later, in the nineteenth century, the chapel very nearly came down at the hands of its new owners, who embarked on a reconstruction of the complex of buildings, demolished the portico and the adjoining palazzo, and damaged one of the walls of the church in the process. Had the city authorities, who acquired the chapel in 1881, not intervened in good time, it is quite likely that the monument would have been lost entirely