The Scuola dei Greci was the cultural and religious center of the Greek community in Venice. The Venetian Scuole were confraternities formed by ethnic or religious groups that lived in the city during the Renaissance. They provided an environment for the social, cultural and religious activities of their members. The Greek minority was present in Venice as early as the 13th century, but increased greatly in the 15th and 16th centuries after the fall of Constantinople and the Ottoman expansion into the former Byzantine lands.