# Exterior view [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [ARCHITECT, Italian]() - Date: 0501-0550 - Technique: Photo ## Commentary The church was begun by Bishop Ecclesius \(reg 521-32\) and financed by Julianus Argentarius, who spent 26,000 solidi on its construction; work progressed under bishops Ursicinus \(reg 534-36\) and Victor \(reg 538-45\), and the church was consecrated in 547 by Bishop Maximian. The church is a domed octagon with an ambulatory and a woman's gallery. Eight large piers support the squinches that support the dome. The circular central space is varied by the addition of seven galleried niches while the eighth arc becomes instead a rectangular choir ending in an apse. From the exterior the church structure looks rational as these structures rise to the central dome. A long but narrow narthex is at an angle to the main axis. View the <a href="\#" onClick="w=window.open \('/support/plans/zzzarchi/06c/3/sanvital.html', 'newWin', 'scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=400,height=600'\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return false">cross section and ground plan</a> of the building. ## Related artworks - [Aerial view]() - [Aerial view]() - [Apse of a basilica]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Arsenale Gateway]() - [Basilica di Sant'Antonio: Chiostro del Noviziato]() - [Basilica Santi Nereo e Achilleo]() - [Ca' Foscari: Façade]() - [Chamber of the millers]() - [Chiesa dell'Incoronata: Interior of the dome]() - [Cloister gallery]() - [Detail of the façade]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()