2001
San Marco
The Grand Canal
Know to the Venetians as the Canalazzo, the Grand
Canal sweeps through Venice, following the course of an ancient river bed.
From right
to left the buildings are (1) Hotel Regina e Europa, formerly the Palazzo
Tiepolo; (2) the Palazzo Contarini Fasan, popularly known as the
House of Desdemona from Shakespeare's play; and (3) the Palazzo Gritti-Pisani
where Ruskin stayed in 1851, now the Hotel Gritti Palace.
Piazza San Marco
The Piazza San Marco was conceived as a vista for the Doge's
Palace and the Basilica. The square, described by Napoleon as "the
most elegant drawing room in Europe," was the only one deemed fit to be called a
piazza—the others were merely campi, or fields.
Basilica and Campanile Gate
The first Campanile Tower, completed in 1173, was built as a
lighthouse to assist navigators in the lagoon. It took
on a less benevolent role in the Middle Ages as the support for a torture cage.
The tower's present appearance dates
from the 16th century when it was restored by Bartolemeo Bon after an
earthquake. The tower survived until 1902
when it its foundations gave way and it suddenly collapsed. The new tower
was finally opened in 1912.
The basilica is the third church to stand on the site. The
first, built to enshrine the body of St. Mark in the 9th century, was
destroyed by fire. The second was pulled down in the 11th century in order to
make way for a more spectacular edifice designed
by an unknown architect (1063-94). In 1807 it succeeded San Pietro in the sestiere
of Castello as the cathedral of Venice.
Basilica: Façade Mosaics
The façade mosaics date from the 17th century and show religious scenes.
Basilica: Doorway Carvings
The central arch features 13th-century carvings of the Labors of the Month.
Basilica: Dome Mosaics
Clothing the domes, walls and floor of the basilica are over
40,000 sq.ft. of gleaming, golden mosaics. The
earliest, dating from the 12th century, were the work of mosaicists from the
east, but their techniques
were gradually taken over by Venetian craftsmen, combining Byzantine inspiration
with western influences.
Basilica: Dome of the Ascension
Among the finest mosaics are those decorating the
12th-century Dome of the Pentecost over
the nave, and the 13th-century central Dome of the Ascension, a mosaic of Christ
in Glory.
Basilica: Pala d'Oro
The most valuable treasure of San Marco is the Pala d'Oro, an
altarpiece created in Byzantium
in 976, consisting of 250 enamel paintings on gold foil, enclosed within a
gilded silver Gothic frame.
Basilica: Treasury
The archangel Michael, a Byzantine icon from the 11th century.
Basilica: Horses of St. Mark
The Quadriga were stolen from the top of the Hippodrome in Constantinople in 1204, but their origin, either Roman or Hellenistic, remains a mystery.
Doge's Palace: Drunkenness of Noah
This early 15th-century sculpture, symbolic of the frailness of man, is set on the corner of the Palazzo Ducale, or Doge's Palace.
Doge's Palace: Bocca di Leone
Such letterboxes were used to report crimes anonymously; this one was used to denounce tax evaders.
Doge's Palace: Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci
The Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci was the meeting room for the
powerful Council of Ten, founded in 1310
to investigate and prosecute crimes concerning the security of the State.
Veronese painted the ceiling.
Doge's Palace: Sala del Maggior Consiglio
In the Sala del Maggior Consiglio, or Hall of the Great
Council, the Great Council convened to vote on constitutional
questions, to pass laws and elect the top officials of the Serene
Republic. Tintoretto's Paradise (1587-90)
dominates the room, and is one of the largest paintings in the world, measuring
25 by 81 feet.
Doge's Palace: Paradise - Tintoretto
Detail from Tintoretto's Paradise.
Doge's Palace: St. Jerome - Hieronymous Bosch
St. Jerome (c.1530) is one of several Hieronymous Bosch paintings in the Doge's Palace.
San Polo and Santa Croce
Rialto Bridge
Stone bridges were built in Venice as early as the 12th
century, but it was not until 1588, after the collapse,
decay or sabotage of earlier wooden structures, that a solid stone bridge was
designed for the Rialto. Competing
with Michelangelo, Andrea Palladio and Jacopo Sansovino, the design competition
was won by Antonio da Ponte.
Rialto Markets
Venetians have and still come to Erberia to buy fresh produce for years.
Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari
Know by all simply as the Frari which is a corruption of frati,
meaning brothers. The first church was built by
Franciscan friars in 1250-1338, but was replaced by a larger building that was
completed by the mid 15th century.
The church is decorated with many fine works by Titian, Giovanni Bellini and
Donatello, among others.
Titian's Madonna di Ca'Pesaro (1519-26).
The high altar is decorated with Giovanni Bellini's Madonna Enthroned with Saints (1488).
The tomb of Claudio Monteverdi.
The Monk's Choir consists of three-tiered stalls (1468), carved with bas-reliefs of saints and Venetian city scenes.
Cannaregio
Ca' D'Oro
The Ca' d'Oro (or House of Gold) was commissioned in 1420 by
the wealthy patrician Marino Contrarini, and is the finest
example of Venetian Gothic architecture in the city. Since 1984 it has been the
home of the Giorgio Franchetti Collection.
A religious icon.
Sansovino's lunette of the Madonna and Child (c.1530).
Castello
View of Castello
Castello is the largest of the sestiere, and takes its
name from the 8th-century fortress that once stood on what is now San Pietro,
the island which for centuries was the religious focus of the city. The church
here was the episcopal see from the 9th century
and the city's cathedral from
1451 to 1807. The industrial hub of Castello was the Arsenale, where the
great shipyards
produced Venice's indomitable fleet of warships, but which today
plays host to part of the Venice Biennale every two years.
Santi Giovanni e Paolo
More familiarly known as San Zanipolo, Santi Giovanni e Paolo
vies with the Frari as the city's greatest Gothic church. It
was built in the late 13th to early 14th centuries by the Dominican friar. Today
it houses many works by the Lombardi
family, as well as this painting, Piazzetta's Glory of St. Dominic, on
the ceiling of the Cappella di San Domenico.
Dorsoduro
Santa Maria della Salute
The Baroque church of Santa Maria della Salute was built in
thanksgiving for the deliverance of the city from the plague
of 1630, hence the name Salute, meaning health and salvation. Baldassare
Longhena started the church in 1630 at
the age of 32, and worked on it for the rest of his life, but it was not
completed until 1687, five years after his death.
Ca'Rezzonico
The Baroque palace of Ca'Rezzonico was begun by Baldassare
Longhena, architect of La Salute, in 1667, but the funds of the
Bon family who commissioned it ran dry before the second floor was started. In
1712 the unfinished palace was bought by
the Rezzonicos, a family of merchants-turned-bankers from Genoa. In 1888 the
palace was bought by the poet Robert Browning
and his son, Pen. Since 1934 it has housed the Museum of 18th-Century Venice.
Three of the rooms have frescoes by
Giambattista Tiepolo including, in the Sala della Allegoria Nuziale, his Nuptial
Allegory (1758), part of which is shown above.
Scuola Grande dei Carmini
The Scuola Grande dei Carmini was built in 1663 as the headquarters of the Carmelite cofraternity.
The salone on the lower floor.
In the 1740s Giambattista Tiepolo was commissioned to
decorate the ceiling of the salone on the upper floor. The ceiling shows
St. Simeon Stock Receiving the Scapular of the Carmelite Order from the
Virgin. The scapular, two strips of cloth hung over the
shoulders and tied by string, was widely believed at the time to protect the
wearer from the pains of purgatory after death. The
Carmelites honored St. Simeon Stick because he re-established the order in
Europe after its expulsion from the Holy Land in the 13th century.
Gallerie dell'Accademia
The basis for the collection was the Accademia di Belle Arti,
founded in 1750 by the painter Giovanni Battista Piazzatta.
In 1807 Napoleon moved the academy to the current premises, three former
religious buildings, and
the collection was greatly enlarged by works of art from churches and
monasteries he suppressed.
Central to Venetian art in the 15th century was the Sacra Conversazione,
where the Madonna is portrayed in a
unified composition with saints. Giovanni Bellini's altarpiece for San Giobbe
(c.1487) is one of the finest examples.
One of the series Scenes from the Legend of St. Ursula
(1490s) by Vittorio Carpaccio. The series
relates episodes from the life of St. Ursula using settings and costumes from
15th-century Venice.
Detail from Presentation of the Virgin (1538) by Titian.
Torcello
Established between the 5th and 6th centuries, Torcello grew
into a thriving colony with a population said to have reached 20,000. But with
the rise
of Venice the island went into decline. Today, the population is just 60, and
all that remains is the church of Santa Fosca and the Byzantine cathedral.
Santa Fosca
Santa Fosca was built in the 11th and 12th centuries on a Greek-cross plan.
Basilica di Santa Maria dell'Assunta
The 13th-century apse mosaic dates shows the Madonna set against a gold background.
Burano
Burano is the most colorful of the lagoon islands, and is famous for its lace.
La Biennale di Venezia
Click the logo for the Official Biennale website , or click here for pictures on this site.