We next visited Scuola San Giovanni Evangelista, which was closed indefinitely, so all we got to see was the exterior. That's unfortunate because it's the interiors of these institutions that are remarkable. There were about ten of these grand scuola, and four hundred of minor scuola, in Venice. They started as charitable institutions associated with monasteries, but soon morphed into social clubs for rich merchants, the class below the ruling class. The leading ones then decided to spend most of their resources in outdoing one another artistically rather than follow their original charitable mandates. They now house some of the best artwork in Venice, which is too bad because their schedules are very sketchy.