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143-695: Because of its location directly in front of the Porta della Carta, the most important entry to the Doge's Palace , the loggetta was also used from 1569 onward as a sentry post to provide security for the assembled nobles during the meetings of the Great Council : three procurators were to be present, assisted by an armed squadron of workers from the Arsenal , the government shipyard, in order to counter any popular assault and respond to any fire. Beginning in 1734, it

286-477: A classical forum . The intent was to evoke the memory of the ancient Roman Republic and, in the aftermath of the Sack of Rome in 1527, to present Venice as Rome's true successor. This would visually substantiate Venetian claims that, despite the republic's relative loss of political influence, its longevity and stability were assured by its constitutional structure, consisting in a mixed government modelled along

429-702: A trapezoid . This was intended to give greater visual importance to the Church of Saint Mark located on the eastern side. Work was suspended following the Ottoman–Venetian War (1537–1540) due to lack of funding but resumed in 1543. The next year, 1544, the rest of the Pellegrino hostelry was torn down, followed by the Rizza. On 18 December 1545, the heavy masonry vault collapsed. In the subsequent enquiry, Sansovino claimed that workmen had prematurely removed

572-546: A centre of wisdom and learning. The original library building is located in Saint Mark's Square , Venice's former governmental centre, with its long façade facing the Doge's Palace . Constructed between 1537 and 1588, it is considered the masterpiece of the architect Jacopo Sansovino and a key work in Venetian Renaissance architecture . The Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio described it as "perhaps

715-488: A ground-floor arcade on the outside, open first-floor loggias running along the façade, and the internal courtyard side of the wing, completed with the construction of the Porta della Carta (1442). In 1483, a violent fire broke out in the side of the palace overlooking the canal, where the Doge's Apartments were. Once again, an important reconstruction became necessary and was commissioned from Antonio Rizzo , who would introduce

858-591: A high-arched opening that is flanked by two shorter sidelights topped with lintels and supported by columns . From his days in Florence, Sansovino was likely familiar with the Serlian, having observed it in the tabernacle of the Merchants' guild by Donatello and Michelozzo ( c.  1423 ) on the façade of the Church of Orsanmichele . He would have undoubtedly seen Donato Bramante 's tripartite window in

1001-730: A meeting place for nobles to discuss business affairs in the commercial centre of the city. Furnished with maps and paintings, this structure, visible in Vittore Carpaccio's Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto (c. 1496) and in Jacopo de' Barbari's panoramic view of Venice (1500), was not rebuilt after the fire that devastated the Rialto market in 1514. From the end of

1144-425: A model of a three-storey building, but the project was radically transformed. On 6 March 1537, it was decided that the construction of the new building, now with only two storeys, would be limited to the section directly in front of the palace and that the upper floor was to be reserved for the offices of the procurators and the library. This would not only satisfy the terms of the donation, it would bring renown to

1287-581: A museum. Since 1996, the Doge's Palace has been part of the Venetian museums network, which has been under the management of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia since 2008. The oldest part of the palace is the wing overlooking the lagoon, the corners of which are decorated with 14th-century sculptures, thought to be by Filippo Calendario and various Lombard artists such as Matteo Raverti and Antonio Bregno. The ground floor arcade and

1430-484: A prestigious, though not particularly large, residence, given that the rooms nearest the Golden Staircase had a mixed private and public function. In the private apartments, the Doge could set aside the trappings of office to retire at the end of the day and dine with members of his family amidst furnishings that he had brought from his own house (and which, at his death, would be promptly removed to make way for

1573-424: A single floor above the ground level. Scamozzi, nonetheless, recommended adding a floor to the library. Engineers were called to assess the existing foundation to determine whether it could bear the additional weight. The conclusions were equivocal, and it was ultimately decided in 1588 that the library would remain with only two floors. The upper storey is characterized by a series of Serlians , so-called because

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1716-558: A specific pedagogical function aimed at forming temperate and stalwart rulers and inculcating qualities of dedication to duty and moral excellence in the noble youth who studied in the library, the overall decorative programme reflects the Venetian aristocracy's interest in philosophy as an intellectual pursuit and, in a broader sense, the growing interest in Platonic philosophy as one of the central currents in Renaissance thought. It

1859-476: A state of decay that its very survival was in question; thus, in 1876 a major restoration plan was launched. The work involved the two facades and the capitals belonging to the ground-floor arcade and the upper loggia: 42 of these, which appeared to be in an especially dilapidated state, were removed and replaced by copies. The originals, some of which were masterpieces of Venetian sculpture of the 14th and 15th centuries, were placed, together with other sculptures from

2002-654: A transcendent understanding of a higher reality. By association, it is implied that the Republic of Venice is the very paradigm of wisdom, order, and harmony. The staircase consists of four domes (the Dome of Ethics , the Dome of Rhetoric , the Dome of Dialectic, and the Dome of Poetics ) and two flights, the vaults of which are each decorated with twenty-one images of alternating quadrilinear stuccoes by Alessandro Vittoria and octagonal frescoes by Battista Franco (first flight) and Battista del Moro (second flight). At

2145-462: Is conceptually organized on the basis of the Neoplatonic ascent of the soul and affirms that the quest for knowledge is directed towards the attainment of divine wisdom . The staircase largely represents the life of the embodied soul in the early stages of the ascent: the practice of the cardinal virtues , the study and contemplation of the sensible world in both its multiplicity and harmony,

2288-623: Is decorated with 21 roundels, circular oil paintings, by Giovanni de Mio , Giuseppe Salviati , Battista Franco, Giulio Licinio , Bernardo Strozzi , Giambattista Zelotti , Alessandro Varotari , Paolo Veronese, and Andrea Schiavone. They are inserted into a gilded and painted wooden framework along with 52 grotesques by Battista Franco. The roundels by Bernardo Strozzi and Alessandro Varotari are replacements from 1635 of earlier roundels, respectively by Giulio Licinio and Giambattista Zelotti, which were irreparably damaged by water infiltrations. The original roundels were commissioned in 1556. Although

2431-667: Is modelled on the Theatre of Marcellus and the Colosseum in Rome. It consists in a succession of Doric columns supporting an entablature and is layered over a series of arches resting on pillars. The combination of columns layered over an arcade had been proposed by Bramante for the Palazzo di Giustizia (unexecuted), and was employed by Antonio da Sangallo the younger for the courtyard of Palazzo Farnese (begun 1517). In adopting

2574-598: Is now formally known as the Biblioteca nazionale Marciana . It is the only official institution established by the Venetian Republican government that survives and continues to function. Cathedral libraries and monastic libraries were the principal centres of study and learning throughout Italy in the Middle Ages . But beginning in the fifteenth century, the humanist emphasis on the knowledge of

2717-879: Is replicated in the Hall of Doges at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane, Washington by architect Kirtland Cutter . The facade of the building is replicated at the Italy Pavilion in Epcot at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida . Along with other Venetian landmarks, the palace is imitated in The Venetian, Las Vegas and its sister resort The Venetian Macao . The Doge's Palace

2860-690: Is surmounted by statues of pagan divinities and immortalized heroes of Antiquity. Built by Scamozzi between 1588 and 1591 following Sansovino's design, this solution for the roofline may have been influenced by Michelangelo 's designs for the Capitoline Hill in Rome and may have later inspired Scamozzi's own work at the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza . Among the sculptors were Agostino and Vigilio Rubini, Camillo Mariani , Tiziano Aspetti , and Girolamo Campagna . Over time, however, several of

3003-409: Is used for much of the structure: the cornices, crowning balustrade, the panelling inside the niches, and the frames of the upper reliefs. The balustrade also contains opalescent lumachelle from the valley of San Vitale near Verona, noted for its fossilized mollusk shells. White Istrian stone , easily carved, is used for the relief sculptures. The authentic antique columns (only three of which survived

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3146-764: The Bridge of Sighs , built in 1614 to link the Doge's Palace to the structure intended to house the New Prisons. Enclosed and covered on all sides, the bridge contains two separate corridors that run next to each other. That which visitors use today linked the Prisons to the chambers of the Magistrato alle Leggi and the Quarantia Criminal; the other linked the prisons to the State Advocacy rooms and

3289-461: The Lion of Saint Mark . This is, however, a 19th-century work by Luigi Ferrari, created to replace the original destroyed in 1797. Today, the public entrance to the Doge's Palace is via the Porta del Frumento, on the waterfront side of the building. The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and St Mark's Basilica , which used to be the Doge's chapel. At the centre of

3432-534: The Napoleonic occupation of the city in 1797, when its role inevitably changed. Venice was subjected first to French rule, then to Austrian , and finally in 1866 it became part of Italy. Over this period, the palace was occupied by various administrative offices as well as housing the Biblioteca Marciana and other important cultural institutions within the city. By the end of the 19th century,

3575-528: The Senate , narrates that following the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and its devastation by the Turks , Bessarion had set ardently about the task of acquiring the rare and important works of ancient Greece and Byzantium and adding them to his existing collection so as to prevent the further dispersal and total loss of Greek culture. The cardinal's stated desire in offering the manuscripts to Venice specifically

3718-699: The Temple of Saturn in Rome and perhaps by the Villa Medicea at Poggio a Caiano by Giuliano da Sangallo . For the bases, as a sign of his architectural erudition, Sansovino adopted the Ionic base as it had been directly observed and noted by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and Baldassare Peruzzi in ancient ruins at Frascati . The idea of an ornate frieze above the columns with festoons alternating with window openings had already been used by Sansovino for

3861-417: The loggia above are decorated with 14th- and 15th-century capitals, some of which were replaced with copies during the 19th century. In 1438–1442, Giovanni Bon and Bartolomeo Bon built and adorned the Porta della Carta, which served as the ceremonial entrance to the building. The name of the gateway probably derives either from the fact that this was the area where public scribes set up their desks, or from

4004-555: The schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches and unite Christendom against the Ottoman Turks. His travels as envoy to Germany for Pope Pius II brought him briefly to the city again in 1460 and 1461. On 20 December 1461, during the second stayover, he was admitted into the Venetian aristocracy with a seat in the Great Council . In 1463, Bessarion returned to Venice as the papal legate , tasked with negotiating

4147-407: The Doge's Palace in order to create the wall space necessary for more bookshelves. As a result, some were lost along with all of the identifying inscriptions. The ten that survive were returned to the library in the early nineteenth century and integrated with other paintings in 1929. Of the 'philosophers', only Diogenes by Tintoretto has been credibly identified. The ceiling of the reading room

4290-469: The Doric and Ionic orders, each with the appropriate frieze, cornice, and base, follow ancient Roman prototypes, giving the building a sense of authenticity. The proportions, however, do not always respect Vitruvian canons. Scamozzi, a rigid classicist, was critical of the arches on the ground floor, considered to be dwarfed and ill-proportioned, and the excessive height of the Ionic entablature with respect to

4433-667: The New Prisons after lagging behind a tour group, then crossed the Bridge of Sighs in the middle of the night to the Sala di Censori. In that room was the Madonna col bambino , a work symbolic of "the power of the Venetian state" painted in the early 1500s by a member of the Vivarini school. By the next morning, it was in the possession of the Mala del Brenta organized crime group. The painting

Loggetta del Sansovino - Misplaced Pages Continue

4576-618: The Parlatorio. Both corridors are linked to the service staircase that leads from the ground floor cells of the Pozzi to the roof cells of the Piombi. The famous name of the bridge dates from the Romantic period and was supposed to refer to the sighs of prisoners who, passing from the courtroom to the cell in which they would serve their sentence, took a last look at freedom as they glimpsed

4719-553: The Peloponnese, is employed for the accents around the niches. Statues The combination of polychromatic marbles with bronze is also reminiscent of Raphael's Chigi Chapel. But in the loggetta, the bronze is more prominent as it is the material employed for the four large statues. These were designed by Sansovino on the basis of an allegorical programme conceived by the Procurator Antonio Cappello with

4862-757: The Piazza into the heart of the building. Since 1567, the Giants' Staircase is guarded by Sansovino 's two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune , which represents Venice's power by land and by sea, and therefore the reason for its name. Members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator's Courtyard, to the right of the Giants' Staircase. Over the centuries, the Doge's Palace has been restructured and restored countless times. Due to fires, structural failures, and infiltrations, and new organizational requirements and modifications or complete overhaulings of

5005-513: The Pozzi (the Wells). In 1591 yet more cells were built in the upper eastern wing. Due to their position, directly under the lead roof, they were known as Piombi . Among the famous inmates of the prison were Silvio Pellico and Giacomo Casanova . The latter in his biography describes escaping through the roof, re-entering the palace, and exiting through the Porta della Carta . A corridor leads over

5148-638: The Sala Regia of the Vatican during his Roman sojourn and may have been aware of the sixteenth-century nymphaeum at Genazzano near Rome, attributed to Bramante, where the Serlian is placed in a series. At the Marciana, Sansovino adopted the contracted Serlian of the Orsanmichele prototype, which has narrow sidelights, but these are separated from the tall opening by double columns, placed one behind

5291-503: The Seasons (H) Nature and the Seasons (B) Nature and the Seasons (S) Virtue, spurning Fortune, turns to Prudence, to Justice, to Fortitude, to Temperance, and to other companions (I) Virtue, spurning Fortune, turns to Prudence, to Justice, to Fortitude, to Temperance, and to other companions (P) Pallas between Fortune and Virtue (H) Wisdom prefers Virtue to Fortune (B) Minerva between Fortune and

5434-550: The Venetian ambassador to Rome, Bessarion annulled the legal act of donation in 1467 with papal consent, citing the difficulty readers would have had in reaching the monastery, located on a separate island. The following year, Bessarion announced instead his intention to bequeath his entire personal library, both the Greek and Latin codices, to the Republic of Venice with immediate effect. On 28 June 1468, Pietro Morosini took legal possession of Bessarion's library in Rome on behalf of

5577-457: The Venetian nobility and academics, the requirement to deposit a security was not always enforced. A few of the codices were subsequently discovered in private libraries or even for sale in local book shops. In exceptional circumstances, copyists were allowed to duplicate the manuscripts for the private libraries of influential patrons: among others Lorenzo de' Medici commissioned copies of seven Greek codices. During this period, reproduction of

5720-471: The Venetian tradition in their artistic styles, having been influenced by the trends in Florence , Rome, Mantua , and Parma , particularly by the work of Michelangelo, Giulio Romano , and Parmigianino . To varying degrees, the roundels that they produced for the ceiling of the reading room are consequently characterized by the emphasis on line drawing, the greater sculptural rigidity and artificial poses of

5863-472: The Younger, Raphael , and other great Renaissance architects had struggled with the dilemma, implementing various ideas, none of which satisfied the Vitruvian dictum. Sansovino's solution was to lengthen the end of the frieze by placing a final pilaster on a wider pier , thus creating the space necessary for a perfect half metope. Francesco Sansovino relates that his father additionally sensationalized

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6006-492: The academy's dissolution for bankruptcy the following year. The room was originally lined with wooden benches, interrupted by a lectern that was located under the central window of the western wall. Beginning in 1591, it was transformed into the public Statuary Hall by Vincenzo Scamozzi in order to display the collection of ancient sculpture that Giovanni Grimani had donated to the Venetian Republic in 1587. Of

6149-562: The addition of a second lectureship for poetry, oratory, and history in 1460, it evolved into a humanistic school, principally for the sons of the nobles and citizens. Among the Italian humanists who taught there were George of Trebizond , Giorgio Valla , Marcantonio Sabellico , Raphael Regius , Battista Egnazio , and Marco Musuro . The vestibule additionally hosted the meetings of the Accademia Veneziana from 1560 until

6292-701: The architect is usually said to have been inspired by another Venetian Gothic palace, the Ca' d'Oro . The elaborate arched facade of the Bush Street Temple in San Francisco , built in 1895, is a copy in painted redwood of the Doge's Palace. The exterior of the Chicago Athletic Association building (1893) is based on the Doge's Palace. The ornate gothic style of the Doge's Palace (and other similar palaces throughout Italy)

6435-521: The architect's son, Francesco , Sansovino's design for the corner of the Doric frieze was much discussed and admired for its faithful adherence to the principles of Ancient Roman architecture as outlined by Vitruvius in De architectura . These principles required that a triglyph be centred over the last column and then followed by half a metope , but the space was insufficient. With no surviving classical examples to guide them, Bramante, Antonio da Sangallo

6578-406: The architect, for all 21 roundels are often imprecise or inaccurate. with Francesco Sansovino's titles/descriptions and the more recent proposals (S) Nature before Jupiter, asking permission to bring forth all things, and Pallas advises Jupiter on the sequence (P) Nature between Pallas and Jupiter (H) Jupiter, Minerva, and Nature (B) The Logos (S) Theology before

6721-515: The architectural element was illustrated and described by Sebastiano Serlio in his Tutte l'opere d'architettura et prospetiva , a seven-volume treatise for Renaissance architects and scholarly patrons. Later popularized by the architect Andrea Palladio , the element is also known as the Palladian window. It is inspired by ancient triumphal arches such as the Arch of Constantine and consists in

6864-455: The area in front of the Doge's Palace. For this, the procurators of Saint Mark de supra commissioned Jacopo Sansovino , their proto (consultant architect and buildings manager), on 14 July 1536. A refugee from the Sack of Rome, Sansovino possessed the direct knowledge and understanding of ancient Roman prototypes necessary to carry out the architectural programme. The commission called for

7007-442: The assassin, Carlo Grimaldi, who was a member of the Council of Ten. Biblioteca Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark ( Italian : Biblioteca Marciana , but in historical documents commonly referred to as the Libreria pubblica di san Marco ) is a public library in Venice , Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositories for manuscripts in Italy and holds one of

7150-446: The balustrades, and the elaborate rooflines. The library historically occupied the upper floor, while the ground floor was let to shops, and later cafes, as sources of revenue to the procurators. The gilded interior rooms are decorated with oil paintings by the masters of Venice's Mannerist period, including Titian , Tintoretto , Paolo Veronese , and Andrea Schiavone . Some of these paintings show mythological scenes derived from

7293-446: The books that the cardinal had reserved for himself or had acquired after 1468. Despite the grateful acceptance of the donation by the Venetian government and the commitment to establish a library of public utility, the codices remained crated inside the Doge's Palace , entrusted to the care of the state historian under the direction of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra . Little was done to facilitate access, particularly during

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7436-424: The centre, arranged in two rows, to which the valuable codices were chained according to subject matter. Between the windows were imaginary portraits of great men of Antiquity, the 'philosophers', each originally accompanied by an identifying inscription. Similar portraits were located in the vestibule. Over time, however, these paintings were moved to various locations within the library and eventually, in 1763, to

7579-415: The classical world as essential to the formation of the Renaissance man led to a proliferation of court libraries, patronized by princely rulers, several of which provided a degree of public access. In Venice, an early attempt to found a public library in emulation of the great libraries of Antiquity was unsuccessful, as Petrarch 's personal collection of manuscripts, donated to the republic in 1362,

7722-508: The collapse of the bell tower in 1902) are made out of breccias from Asia and Africa and are positioned so that the colour and texture of the angular fragments of pre-existing rocks in the stone become progressively more pronounced moving towards the central columns. The lesenes behind the columns, the convex pulvinated frieze of the main entablature , and the capitals are in white Carrara marble veined with grey. Precious dark green lapis lacedaemonius ( verde antico ), found exclusively in

7865-404: The collection. During Navagero's tenure (1516–1524), scholars made greater use of the manuscripts and copyists were authorized with more frequency to reproduce codices for esteemed patrons, including Pope Leo X , King Francis I of France, and Cardinal Thomas Wolsey , Lord High Chancellor of England. More editions of the manuscripts were published in this period, notably by Manutius' heirs. With

8008-407: The columns. Nevertheless, the classical references were sufficient to satisfy the Venetians’ desire to emulate the great civilizations of Antiquity and to present their own city as the successor of the Roman Republic. At the same time, the design respects many local building traditions and harmonizes with the gothic Doge's Palace through the common use of Istrian limestone , the two-storey arcades,

8151-401: The cornucopias and the urns with water flowing out. The enlarged keystones of the arches on the ground floor alternate between lions’ heads and the heads of pagan divinities ( Ceres ?, Pan , Apollo , Diana , Mercury , Minerva , Venus , Mars , Juno ?, Jupiter , Saturn , and Phanes ). In low relief , the underarches have either mythological scenes, mostly related to the divinity in

8294-495: The courtyard of Palazzo Gaddi in Rome (1519–1527). But the insertion of windows into a frieze had been pioneered even earlier by Bramante at Palazzo Caprini in Rome (1501–1510, demolished 1938) and employed in Peruzzi's early sixteenth-century Villa Farnesina . In the library, the specific pattern of the festoons with putti appears to be based on an early second-century sarcophagus fragment belonging to Cardinal Domenico Grimani 's collection of antiquities . The ground floor

8437-407: The courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century. In 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. The design envisaged a straight axis with the rounded Foscari Arch, with alternate bands of Istrian stone and red Verona marble , linking the staircase to the Porta della Carta, and thus producing one single monumental approach from

8580-407: The debate regarding the height of the building was reopened. When Sansovino was first commissioned on 14 July 1536, the project expressly called for a three-storey construction similar to the recently rebuilt Procuratie Vecchie on the northern side of Saint Mark's Square. But by 6 March 1537, when the decision was made to locate the library within the new building, the plan was abandoned in favour of

8723-425: The design by challenging the leading architects in Italy to resolve the problem and then triumphantly revealing his own solution. Rather than a two-dimensional wall, the façade is conceived as an assemblage of three-dimensional structural elements, including piers, arcades, columns, and entablatures layered atop one another to create a sense of depth, which is increased by the extensive surface carvings. These are

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8866-403: The divination game Le ingeniose sorti (1540) by Francesco Marcolini da Forlì  [ it ] ; as well as Vincenzo Cartari 's mythographic manual for painters Imagini colla sposizione degli dei degli antichi (1556). The " Mantegna Tarocchi " were used as iconographic sources for the depictions of the liberal arts and the muses in the staircase. Although several images have

9009-411: The entire layout of the St. Mark's Square . The new palace was built out of fortresses, one façade to the Piazzetta, the other overlooking the St. Mark's Basin. Although only few traces remain of that palace, some Byzantine-Venetian architecture characteristics can still be seen at the ground floor, with the wall base in Istrian stone and some herring-bone pattern brick paving. Political changes in

9152-451: The entry and on the landings, Sansovino repeated the Serlian element from the façade, making use of ancient columns taken from the dilapidated sixth-century Byzantine Church of Santa Maria del Canneto in Pola on the Istrian peninsula . The vestibule was conceived as a lecture hall for the public school of Saint Mark. Founded in 1446 to train civil servants for the Ducal Chancery, the school initially focused on grammar and rhetoric. With

9295-442: The facades of the palace. The rooms in which the Doge lived were always located in this area of the palace, between the Rio della Canonica – the water entrance to the building – the present-day Golden Staircase and the apse of St. Mark's Basilica . The disastrous fire in this part of the building in 1483 made important reconstruction work necessary, with the Doge's apartments being completed by 1510. The core of these apartments forms

9438-447: The facades, in an area specifically set aside for this purpose: the Museo dell'Opera. After undergoing thorough and careful restoration works, they are now exhibited, on their original columns, in these six rooms of the museum, which are traversed by an ancient wall in great blocks of stone, a remnant of an earlier version of the palace. The rooms also contain fragments of statues and important architectural and decorative works in stone from

9581-447: The figures, and the overall dramatic compositions. They nevertheless show the influence of the Venetian painting tradition in both the colouring and brushwork. For the single roundels, various and conflicting titles have been proposed over time. The earliest titles that Giorgio Vasari suggested for the three roundels by Veronese contain conspicuous errors, and even the titles and visual descriptions given by Francesco Sansovino, son of

9724-424: The god of music, he alludes to the perfect constitutional harmony between the various councils and magistrates which ensures the stability and longevity of the state. On the loggetta, he is portrayed with a quiver and arrows as symbols of the piercing solar rays. The lyre is now missing from his left hand. Mercury , the god of eloquence, underscores that Venice's wise and prudent decisions are eloquently expressed by

9867-421: The gods, to whom Ganymede presents ambrosia & nectar, demonstrating what Theology does for Faith, Hope, and Charity (I) Theology (P) Theological Virtues before the Divinity (H) Theology and the Theological Virtues before Jupiter (B) The One (S) Natural Philosophy, in the middle of the world, with the Elements, with herbs, with animals, and with humans around (P) Nature and

10010-430: The government over time to provide a more suitable location, but to no avail. The political and financial situation during the long years of the Italian Wars stymied any serious plan to do so, notwithstanding the Senate's statement of intent in 1515 to build a library. Access to the collection itself was nevertheless improved after the appointment of Andrea Navagero as official historian and gubernator (curator) of

10153-433: The intention of glorifying the Republic and exalting its intrinsic virtues in a public space. The architect's son, Francesco Sansovino , elaborates the significance of the statues in both L'Arte oratoria secondo i modi della lingua volgare (1546) and Venetia, città nobilissima et singolare (1581), specifying in the latter publication that he obtained the explanation directly from his father. Francesco Sansovino identifies

10296-421: The island. Cyprus, annexed to Venice in 1489 and ceded to the Ottoman Turks in 1573, is shown as Venus who was born from the waters near the island. 1653–1663 In conjunction with reparations made necessary after lightning struck the bell tower, Baldassare Longhena , the consultant architect and buildings manager for the procurators of Saint Mark de supra from 1640 to 1682, replaced the five steps in front of

10439-450: The keystone, or grotesques . The spandrels on the upper floor have allegorical female figures with wings. These are in mid relief , thus creating the illusion that they are further from the viewer. The upright structural axes, consisting of the succession of columns and pedestals, become progressively lighter. This all serves to emphasize the verticality and counterbalance the long, horizontal succession of arcades. The balustrade above

10582-524: The lagoon and San Giorgio through the small windows. In the mid-16th century, it was decided to build a new structure on the other side of the canal to the side of the palace which would house prisons and the chambers of the magistrates known as the Notte al Criminal. Ultimately linked to the palace by the Bridge of Sighs, the building was intended to improve the conditions for prisoners with larger and more light-filled and airy cells. However, certain sections of

10725-457: The last of the hostelries, the Lion, relocated, allowing the building to reach the sixteenth bay in correspondence with the lateral entry of the mint. Beyond stood the central meat market. This was a significant source of rental income for the procurators, and construction was halted. The work on the interior decorations continued until about 1560. Although it was decided five years later to relocate

10868-654: The lavish stone facing. The rich polychromatic effect, obtained by employing a number of rare stones and costly marbles, is reminiscent of the interior of the Pantheon , of Raphael ’s Chigi Chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo (begun c. 1512), and of Baldassare Peruzzi 's tomb of Pope Adrian VI in Santa Maria dell'Anima (1523–1530), all constructions with which Sansovino was likely familiar from his second period in Rome (1516–1527). Locally available red Verona marble

11011-411: The leftmost statue as Pallas , an epithet for Athena . Characterized by her medusa shield, Athena is an allegory for wisdom and righteousness, as well as the goddess of war. This may have signified the righteousness of the Venetian patriciate, as well as Venetian naval prowess. Apollo , as the god of the one sun ( Sole ), allegorizes the uniqueness of the Republic and of its government. In addition, as

11154-425: The library holds many works by the great painters of sixteenth-century Venice, making it a comprehensive monument to Venetian Mannerism . Today, the building is customarily referred to as the ' Libreria sansoviniana ' and is largely a museum. Since 1904, the library offices, the reading rooms, and most of the collection have been housed in the adjoining Zecca , the former mint of the Republic of Venice. The library

11297-399: The lines of the classical republics . Monumental in scale, the architectural programme was one of the most ambitious projects of urban renewal in sixteenth-century Italy. In addition to the mint (begun 1536) and the loggia of the bell tower of Saint Mark's (begun 1538), it involved replacing the dilapidated thirteenth-century buildings that lined the southern side of the square and

11440-407: The loggetta and the external benches with a wide terrace and balustrade. The two lateral windows were reduced to half lunettes with iron grillwork in the upper portion, and doors were added. 1733–1750 Antonio Gai realized the elaborate bronze gate (1733–1734) with the allegorical figures of Vigilance (on the left with the lighted lamp and the crane holding a pebble with its foot) and Liberty (on

11583-435: The magnitude of the overall architectural programme (which included the library ) and the associated expenses for the coffers of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra led to a brief suspension of work and the decision to simplify the design by leaving the brick of the side walls exposed. The sides were however partially obscured when the lean-to structures around the perimeter of the bell tower were subsequently extended along

11726-541: The manuscripts was rarely authorized for printers who needed working copies on which to write notes and make corrections whenever printing critical editions, since it was believed that the value of a manuscript would greatly decline once the editio princeps (first edition) had been published. Notably, Aldus Manutius was able to make only limited use of the codices for his publishing house . Several prominent humanists, including Marcantonio Sabellico in his capacity as official historian and Bartolomeo d'Alviano , urged

11869-408: The meat market and continue the building, no further action was taken, and in 1570 Sansovino died. The meat market was demolished in 1581. The following year Vincenzo Scamozzi was selected to oversee the construction of the final five bays, continuing Sansovino's design for the façade. This brought the building down to the embankment of Saint Mark's Basin and into alignment with the main façade of

12012-482: The mid-13th century led to the need to re-think the palace's structure due to the considerable increase in the number of the Great Council 's members. The new Gothic palace's constructions started around 1340, focusing mostly on the side of the building facing the lagoon. Only in 1424 did Doge Francesco Foscari decide to extend the rebuilding works to the wing overlooking the Piazzetta, serving as law-courts, and with

12155-550: The mint. Scamozzi added the crowning statues and obelisks. Since the original plans by Sansovino do not survive, it is not known whether the architect intended for the library to reach the final length of twenty-one bays. Scamozzi's negative comment on the junction of the library with the mint has led some architectural historians to argue that the result could not have been intentionally designed by Sansovino. However archival research and technical and aesthetic assessments have not been conclusive. During Scamozzi's superintendence,

12298-613: The nearby location of the cartabum , the archives of state documents. Flanked by Gothic pinnacles, with two figures of the Cardinal Virtues per side, the gateway is crowned by a bust of Mark the Evangelist over which rises a statue of Justice with her traditional symbols of sword and scales. In the space above the cornice, there is a sculptural portrait of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before

12441-455: The new Renaissance language to the building's architecture. An entire new structure was raised alongside the canal, stretching from the Ponte della Canonica to the Ponte della Paglia , with the official rooms of the government decorated with works commissioned from Vittore Carpaccio , Giorgione , Alvise Vivarini and Giovanni Bellini . Another huge fire in 1547 destroyed some of the rooms on

12584-411: The new prisons fall short of this aim, particularly those laid out with passageways on all sides and those cells which give onto the inner courtyard of the building. In keeping with previous traditions, each cell was lined with overlapping planks of larch that were nailed in place. The only art theft from the Doge's Palace was executed on 9 October 1991 by Vincenzo Pipino , who hid in one of the cells in

12727-625: The niches with statues placed between paired columns may also derive from Donato Bramante 's design for the marble screen within the Church of the Sacra Casa in Loreto. But the specific choice of composite capitals, combined with a convex pulvinated frieze, was probably inspired from the tomb of Pope Adrian VI in Santa Maria dell'Anima . Given its small size, the loggetta cost the relatively considerable sum of 4,258 ducats and 14 grossi due to

12870-571: The nobles. The god is shown with the severed head of Argus at his feet. The caduceus is missing from his right hand. Pax represents the peace, beloved by the Republic, which ensures its greatness. The statue of the goddess shows her extinguishing her torch on the armour that lays cast-off at her feet. Reliefs The three reliefs in the attic are the work of Sansovino's collaborators Danese Cattaneo and Tiziano Aspetti . They allegorize Venice and its principal subject territories of Crete and Cyprus. The central relief shows Venice as Justice with

13013-627: The nomination of Pietro Bembo as gubernator in 1530 and the termination of the War of the League of Cognac in that same year, efforts to gather support for the construction of the library were renewed. Probably at the instigation of Bembo, an enthusiast of classical studies, the collection was transferred in 1532 to the upper floor of the Church of Saint Mark , the ducal chapel, where the codices were uncrated and placed on shelves. That same year, Vettore Grimani pressed his fellow procurators, insisting that

13156-412: The original Gothic style , despite the submission of neo-classical alternative designs by the influential Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio . However, there are some classical features – for example, since the 16th century, the palace has been linked to the prison by the Bridge of Sighs . As well as being the ducal residence, the palace housed political institutions of the Republic of Venice until

13299-414: The original decoration, only the ceiling remains with the illusionistic three-dimensional decoration by Cristoforo and Stefano De Rosa of Brescia (1559). Titian's octagonal painting in the centre has most often been identified as a personification of Wisdom or History. Other suggestions include Poetry, Philosophy, Rhetoric, and Love of Letters. The adjacent reading room originally had 38 desks in

13442-641: The original seven artists were formally chosen by Sansovino and Titian, their selection for an official and prestigious commission such as the library was indicative of the ascendancy of the Grimani and of those other families within the aristocracy who maintained close ties with the papal court and whose artistic preferences consequently tended towards Mannerism as it was developing in Tuscany , Emilia , and Rome. The artists were mostly young and innovative. They were primarily foreign-trained and substantially outside

13585-459: The original statues were eroded or otherwise damaged and ultimately replaced with statues that are not always consistent with the original subjects. The effect of the library, overall, is that the entire façade has been encrusted with archaeological artefacts. Statues and carvings abound, and there are no large areas of plain wall. In addition to the abundance of classical decorative elements – obelisks, keystone heads, spandrel figures, and reliefs –

13728-476: The ornamental trappings there was hardly a moment in which some kind of works have not been underway at the building. From the Middle Ages , the activities of maintenance and conservation were in the hands of a "technical office", which was in charge of all such operations and oversaw the workers and their sites: the Opera , or fabbriceria or procuratoria . After the mid-19th century, the palace seemed to be in such

13871-423: The other. This solution of the narrow sidelights ensured greater strength to the structural walls, which was necessary to balance the thrust of the barrel vault originally planned for the upper storey. Layered over the series of Serlians is a row of large Ionic columns . The capitals with the egg-and-dart motif in the echinus and flame palmettes and masks in the collar may have been directly inspired by

14014-434: The paired columns and niches with statues, had in fact already been employed by Sansovino for the temporary wooden arches that he designed and erected in Florence in 1514 for the ceremonial entry of Pope Leo X into the city the previous year. Although the small brick structure was quickly erected between 1538 and 1540, in part with building materials recuperated from the old Church of San Francesco della Vigna , concerns about

14157-736: The particular interest in the esotericism of the Hermetic writings and the Chaldean Oracles that enthused many humanists following the publication in 1505 of Horapollo 's Ἱερογλυφικά ( Hieroglyphica ), the book discovered in 1419 by Cristoforo Buondelmonti and believed to be the key for deciphering ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. The iconographic sources vary and include Pierio Valeriano's dictionary of symbols, Hieroglyphica (1556); popular emblem books such as Andrea Alciati 's Emblematum Liber (1531) and Achille Bocchi 's Symbolicarum quaestionum de universo genere (1555);

14300-399: The perimeter of the bell tower. Important sources of rental income for the procurators of Saint Mark de supra , they were rebuilt in 1550 alongside Sansovino's structure and existed until 1873 when they were finally demolished. This completely exposed the lateral brick walls which had only partial three-light windows in the upper parts in order to accommodate for the lean-to structure below. It

14443-427: The property of the new elected Doge). Prior to the 12th century, there were holding cells within the Doge's Palace but during the 13th and fourteenth centuries more prison spaces were created to occupy the entire ground floor of the southern wing. Again these layouts changed in c.1540 when a compound of the ground floor of the eastern wing was built. Due to their dark, damp and isolated qualities they came to be known as

14586-399: The reading room, had been completed. The commemorative plaque in the adjacent vestibule, corresponding to the next three bays, bears the date of the Venetian year 1133 ( i.e. 1554), an indication that the end of construction was already considered imminent. By then, fourteen bays had been constructed. However, owing to difficulties in finding a suitable alternative location, only in 1556 was

14729-419: The reliefs in the attic are original with the exception of the putto on the extreme right. The spandrel figures are also original as are most of the reliefs above and below the niches. At the time of the reconstruction, the sides that had originally been left in exposed brick were redesigned. The architectural elements of the façade were continued along the sides, and the same types of stone and marble used for

14872-602: The republic as a centre of wisdom, learning, and culture. Significantly, the earlier decree of 1515, citing as examples the libraries in Rome and in Athens , expressly stated that a perfect library with fine books would serve as an ornament for the city and as a light for all of Italy. Construction proceeded slowly. The chosen site for the library, although owned by the government, was occupied by five hostelries (Pellegrino, Rizza, Cavaletto, Luna, Lion) and several food stalls, many of which had long-standing contractual rights. It

15015-537: The republic's international prestige after the earlier defeat at Agnadello during the War of Cambrai and the subsequent Peace of Bologna , which sanctioned Habsburg hegemony on the Italian peninsula at the end of the War of the League of Cognac. Championed by the Grimani family, it called for the transformation of Saint Mark's Square from a medieval town centre with food vendors, money changers, and even latrines into

15158-591: The republic's participation in a crusade to liberate Constantinople from the Turks. For the duration of this extended sojourn (1463–1464), the cardinal lodged and studied in the Benedictine monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore , and it was to the monastery that he initially destined his Greek codices which were to be consigned after his death. But under the influence of the humanist Paolo Morosini and his cousin Pietro,

15301-402: The republic. The bequest included the 466 codices which were transported to Venice in crates the next year. To this initial delivery, more codices and incunabula were added following the death of Bessarion in 1472. This second shipment, arranged in 1474 by Federico da Montefeltro , departed from Urbino, where Bessarion had deposited the remainder of his library for safekeeping. It included

15444-426: The revenue by gradually relocating the activities as the building progressed and new space was required to continue. The lean-to bread shops and a portion of the Pellegrino hostelry adjoining the bell tower were demolished in early 1537. But rather than reutilizing the existing foundations, Sansovino built the library detached so as to make the bell tower a freestanding structure and transform Saint Mark's Square into

15587-465: The revetments of the main façade were applied to the sides in order to render the entire structure homogeneous. Doge%27s Palace The Doge's Palace ( Doge pronounced / d oʊ ( d ) ʒ / ; Italian : Palazzo Ducale ; Venetian : Pałaso Dogal ) is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy . The palace

15730-464: The richest and most ornate building that there has been since ancient times up until now" ( "il più ricco ed ornato edificio che forse sia stato da gli Antichi in qua" ). The art historian Jacob Burckhardt regarded it as "the most magnificent secular Italian building" ( "das prächtigste profane Gebäude Italiens" ), and Frederick Hartt called it "one of the most satisfying structures in Italian architectural history". Also significant for its art,

15873-501: The right with the pileus on a staff). The gate is surmounted by Armed Peace (to the left with a helmet and an olive branch) and Public Happiness (to the right with the caduceus and a cornucopia). Giorgio Massari widened the attic between 1749 and 1750. The marble reliefs of the two putti on the external wings of the elevation were carved by Antonio Gai. 1876–1885 The original medieval loggetta had been covered on both sides with lean-to wooden stalls for shops which continued along

16016-457: The roof. In the following years, the procurators increased funding by borrowing from trust funds, recovering unpaid rents, selling unprofitable holdings, and drawing upon the interest income from government bonds. Work proceeded rapidly thereafter. The Cavaletto hostelry was relocated in 1550. This was followed by the demolition of the Luna. By 1552, at least the seven bays in correspondence to

16159-552: The second floor, but fortunately without undermining the structure as a whole. Refurbishment works were being held at the palace when in 1577 a third fire destroyed the Scrutinio Room and the Great Council Chamber, together with works by Gentile da Fabriano , Pisanello , Alvise Vivarini, Vittore Carpaccio, Giovanni Bellini, Pordenone , and Titian . In the subsequent rebuilding work it was decided to respect

16302-416: The sides of the loggetta in order to provide an additional source of rental income to the procurators. Work resumed, and by January 1541 the basic structure was complete when the leaden roof was applied. The principal model for the loggetta was likely the Arch of Constantine in Rome with three prominent arches alternating with projecting columns that are displayed as trophies on high pedestals. The design of

16445-520: The solution for the Marciana Library, Sansovino was faithfully adhering to the recommendation of Leon Battista Alberti that in larger structures the column, inherited from Greek architecture, should only support an entablature, whereas the arch, inherited from Roman mural construction, should be supported on square pillars so that the resulting arcade appears to be the residual of "a wall open and discontinued in several places". According to

16588-488: The square. In the fifteenth century, the procurators erected a second loggia, attached to the bell tower. Visible in La Piazzetta di San Marco (c. 1487), attributed to Lazzaro Bastiani, it was a lean-to wooden structure, partially enclosed, that consisted in a triple arcade supported on four stone columns. Over time, it was repeatedly damaged by falling masonry from the bell tower as a result of storm and earthquake but

16731-603: The structure was showing clear signs of decay, and the Italian government set aside significant funds for its restoration and all public offices were moved elsewhere, with the exception of the State Office for the Protection of Historical Monuments, which is still housed at the palace's loggia floor. In 1923, the Italian State, owner of the building, entrusted the management to the Venetian municipality to be run as

16874-527: The style of the main facade. The building serves as the entrance to the tower elevator. Covered exterior galleries, referred to as loggias and intended as public gathering places, were normally built in Venice against church façades, such as the surviving examples of San Giacomo di Rialto and San Nicolò dei Mendicoli . A similar structure was also attached to the building of the Camerlenghi at Rialto as

17017-415: The sword and scales. She sits upon a throne supported by lions in allusion to her Solomonic wisdom. On either side the figure is flanked by river gods with water flowing from urns in reference to the subject territories on the Italian mainland. The territory of Crete , under Venetian rule from 1205 to 1669, is presented as Jupiter who was raised on Mount Aigaion on Crete and fathered Minos , the first king of

17160-422: The temporary wooden supports before the concrete had set and that a galley in the basin of Saint Mark, firing her cannon as a salute, had shaken the building. Nevertheless, the architect was sentenced to personally repay the cost of the damage, which took him 20 years. Further, his stipend was suspended until 1547. As a consequence of the collapse, the design was modified with a lighter wooden structure to support

17303-460: The thirteenth century until the second half of the seventeenth century, a loggia also existed in Saint Mark's Square as a gathering place for nobles whenever they came to the square on government business. Although it was attached to the Church of San Basso , it was under the jurisdiction of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra who were responsible specifically for the public buildings around

17446-532: The time had come to act on the republic's long-standing intention to construct a public library wherein Bessarion's codices could be housed. The construction of the library was an integral part of the Renovatio urbis (renewal of the city), a vast architectural programme begun under Doge Andrea Gritti ( in office 1523–1538 ). The programme was intended to heighten Venetian self-confidence and reaffirm

17589-538: The top three ogives. There are a number of 19th-century imitations of the palace's architecture in the United Kingdom , for example: These revivals of Venetian Gothic were influenced by the theories of John Ruskin , author of the three-volume The Stones of Venice , which appeared in the 1850s. The Montauk Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn (1889) imitates elements of the palace's architecture, although

17732-399: The transcendence of mere opinions ( doxa ) through dialectic , and catharsis . The reading room corresponds to the soul's subsequent journey within the intellectual realm and shows the culmination of the ascent with the awakening of the higher, intellective soul, ecstatic union , and illumination . The programme culminates with the representation of the ideal Platonic State founded upon

17875-423: The transformation of Saint Mark's Square from an antiquated medieval town centre with food vendors, money changers, and even latrines into an imposing public forum in emulation of ancient Rome. Specifically, the loggetta was modelled along the lines of ancient triumphal arches and was intended as a monumental backdrop to provide a sense of grandeur to public ceremonies. Many of the key architectural elements, including

18018-449: The work of Sansovino's collaborators, including Danese Cattaneo , Pietro da Salò, Bartolomeo Ammannati , and Alessandro Vittoria . Male figures in high relief are located in the spandrels on the ground floor. With the exception of the arch in correspondence to the entry of the library which has Neptune holding a trident and Aeolus with a wind-filled sail, these figures represent allegories of non-specific rivers, characterized by

18161-500: The world's most significant collections of classical texts . It is named after St Mark , the patron saint of the city. The library was founded in 1468 when the humanist scholar Cardinal Bessarion , bishop of Tusculum and titular Latin patriarch of Constantinople , donated his collection of Greek and Latin manuscripts to the Republic of Venice , with the stipulation that a library of public utility be established. The collection

18304-616: The writings of classical authors: Ovid's Metamorphoses and Fasti , Apuleius's The Golden Ass , Nonnus's Dionysiaca , Martianus Capella's The Marriage of Philology and Mercury , and the Suda . In many instances, these stories of the pagan divinities are employed in a metaphorical sense on the basis of the early Christian writings of Arnobius and Eusebius . Other paintings show allegorical figures and include Renaissance hieroglyphics, consisting in symbols of plants, animals, and objects with specific, but enigmatic, meanings. They reflect

18447-520: The years of the conflict against the Ottomans (1463–1479) when time and resources were directed towards the war effort. In 1485, the need to provide greater space for governmental activities led to the decision to compress the crates into a smaller area of the palace where they were stacked, one atop the other. Access became more difficult and on-site consultation impracticable. Although codices were periodically loaned, primarily to learned members of

18590-424: Was a part of the renovatio urbis , the ambitious programme of architectural renewal, begun under Doge Andrea Gritti , that was aimed at reaffirming Venice's international prestige after the earlier defeat at Agnadello during the War of the League of Cambrai and the subsequent Peace of Bologna which sanctioned Habsburg hegemony on the Italian peninsula at the end of the War of the League of Cognac . It amounted to

18733-420: Was additionally the site for the extraction of winning tickets in the public lottery. The loggetta was largely destroyed in the collapse of the bell tower in 1902, but it was rebuilt using what original material could be salvaged, amounting to about half of the present building. At the same time the sides, which had originally been left in plain brick as other lean-to structures backed onto them, were rebuilt in

18876-488: Was consequently decided to extend the window frames downward using as a model the window, derived from Bramante's Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan and the nymphaeum at Genazzano near Rome, that Sansovino himself had employed for the high altar of San Martino in Venice. In 1902, the loggetta was largely destroyed when the bell tower collapsed. The surviving elements were catalogued and integrated with substitute pieces. The whole

19019-410: Was decided a palatium duci ( Latin for "ducal palace") should be built. However, no trace remains of that 9th-century building as the palace was partially destroyed in the 10th century by a fire set by citizens rebelling against Doge Pietro IV Candiano . The following reconstruction works were undertaken at the behest of Doge Sebastiano Ziani (1172–1178). A great reformer, he would drastically change

19162-525: Was dispersed at the time of his death. In 1468, the Byzantine humanist and scholar Cardinal Bessarion donated his collection of 482 Greek and 264 Latin codices to the Republic of Venice , stipulating that a public library be established to ensure their conservation for future generations and availability for scholars. The formal letter announcing the donation, dated 31 May 1468 and addressed to Doge Cristoforo Moro ( in office 1462–1471 ) and

19305-632: Was recovered by the police on 7 November 1991. The Ismailiyya building in Baku , which at present serves as the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan , was styled after the Doge's Palace. The Central rail station , in Iași , built in 1870, had as a model the architecture of the Doge's Palace. On the central part, there is a loggia with five arcades and pillars made of curved stone, having at

19448-481: Was recreated and is playable in the 2009 video game, Assassin's Creed II . In the game, one of the objectives is to get protagonist Ezio Auditore da Firenze to fly a hang-glider built for him by Leonardo da Vinci into the Palazzo Ducale in order to prevent a Templar plot to kill the current Doge, Giovanni Mocenigo . Though he arrives too late to prevent the Doge from being poisoned, he does manage to kill

19591-405: Was repaired after each incident. However, when lightning struck the bell tower on 11 August 1537 and the loggia underneath was once again damaged, it was decided to completely rebuild the structure. The commission was given to the sculptor and architect Jacopo Sansovino, the proto (consultant architect and buildings manager) of the procurators of Saint Mark de supra . The building of the loggetta

19734-470: Was slow, however, to honour its commitment to suitably house the manuscripts with decades of discussion and indecision, owing to a series of military conflicts in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth centuries and the resulting climate of political uncertainty. The library was ultimately built during the period of recovery as part of a vast programme of urban renewal aimed at glorifying the republic through architecture and affirming its international prestige as

19877-461: Was that they should be properly conserved in a city where many Greek refugees had fled and which he himself had come to consider "another Byzantium" ( "alterum Byzantium" ). Bessarion's first contact with Venice had been in 1438 when, as the newly ordained metropolitan bishop of Nicaea , he arrived with the Byzantine delegation to the Council of Ferrara-Florence , the objective being to heal

20020-428: Was the residence of the Doge of Venice , the supreme authority of the former Republic of Venice . It was built in 1340 and extended and modified in the following centuries. It became a museum in 1923 and is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia . In 810, Doge Agnello Participazio moved the seat of government from the island of Malamocco to the area of the present-day Rialto , when it

20163-512: Was the result of Bessarion's persistent efforts to locate rare manuscripts throughout Greece and Italy and then acquire or copy them as a means of preserving the writings of the classical Greek authors and the literature of Byzantium after the fall of Constantinople in 1453. His choice of Venice was primarily due to the city's large community of Greek refugees and its historical ties to the Byzantine Empire . The Venetian government

20306-409: Was then reassembled in the courtyard of the Doge's Palace before being moved to the base of the new bell tower. Construction was completed in 1912. The current Loggetta is built with roughly fifty percent of the original architectonic and decorative material. The three surviving columns are located on either side of the doorway and in the second-to-the-last position on the right. Although badly damaged,

20449-412: Was thus necessary to find a mutually agreed upon alternative location, and at least three of the hostelries had to remain in the area of Saint Mark's Square. In addition, the hostelries and shops provided a steady flow of rental income to the procurators of Saint Mark de supra , the magistrates responsible for the public buildings around Saint Mark's Square. So there was the need to limit the disruption of

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