The old foundations of the Campanile were used as a nucleus for the new. The shaft outside is a perfect model of the old bell tower; but by modifying the inside the weight has been reduced 20,000 tons.
The nucleus of the first Venice, before it was made the seat of government of the republic, is said to have been the little district about the great bridge over the Grand Canal, which still retains the name Rialto. But as soon as the island group of Rivo Alto became the capital of the Venetian republic a palace for the Doge was erected near the open mouth, on the site that its successor still occupies. This earliest palace was probably built about the year 800. It was burned down in 976 and again in 1106. The present magnificent building was a slow growth over three centuries.
As a whole, the Doge’s Palace as it now stands may be regarded externally as the characteristic typical example of fully developed Venetian Gothic. It is built of brick, and is lined or incrusted with small lozenge-like slabs of variously colored marble.
The interior of the Doge’s Palace is of much later date than is the exterior. On the walls of the chief council chambers are oil paintings by many Venetians, among them Tintoretto’s masterpiece “Bacchus and Ariadne,” and the huge picture of Paradise, the largest oil painting in the world.
PREPARED BY THE EDITORIAL STAFF OF THE MENTOR ASSOCIATION
ILLUSTRATION FOR THE MENTOR, VOL. 1, No. 27, SERIAL No. 27
THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS, VENICE
VENICE
The Bridge of Sighs
THREE