Italian architect. He performed many works of reconstruction and restoration. With his brother Tommaso, he was the rebuilder of the La Fenice theater, destroyed by fire in 1836. He worked also on San Marco and the Ca’ d’Oro. Also with his brother, he constructed the theatre of Ravenna with classic proportions.
Venice’s famous theatre was destroyed by a fire in 1836, but it was quickly rebuilt in 1837 by the Meduna brothers, Giovanni Battista and Tommaso. The imperial box was decorated in 1854 using a design by Meduna. The decoration of the rebuilt theatre was exuberant with flowering garlands all over the place and a jungle of branches and gilding that reached a climax in the imperial box at the centre of the auditorium.
Unfortunately, the box was destroyed in the fire of 29 January 1996.
The ninth congress of Italian scientists was held in Venice. For this occasion Prince Andrea Giovanelli, the chairman of the congress, had the family palazzo at San Fosca refurbished from its basement to the attic in order to give a proper welcome to the delegates. The restoration work was given to Giovanni Battista Meduna, who had become the city’s leading architect after he and his brother Tommaso rebuilt La Fenice in 1837 following a fire in 1836.
Apart from reintroducing decorative motifs from the sixteenth century, in the palazzo Meduna also used Gothic features, not the least to stay in keeping with the architecture of the building itself, which dates from the fifteenth century. One Gothic touch was the spiral staircase.
