Piazza San Marco
St. Mark's Square ( Piazza San Marco Italian ) is the most important and most famous square in Venice, Italy.
St. Mark's Square is 175 meters long and up to 82 m wide and is the only place in the city, bearing the name piazza. The other places in Venice are called campi ( from Italian campo, the field ' ), as they were not originally paved. Alfred de Musset called St. Mark's Square the " Salon of Europe ". The course, which is located in the sixth San Marco is dominated by the facade of St Mark's Basilica ( Basilica di San Marco ) with its Campanile and is surrounded by the old and new Magistrates. In the extension of the so-called Piazzetta he reaches in front of the Doge's Palace and opened there to the water, the Bacino di San Marco with the start of the Grand Canal. Before St. Mark's Church houses since 1480 three masts, where on Sundays and public holidays, Markus banner blowing.
Since the space barely rises above sea level, it is flooded at high water time and again. The place is, as almost the entire city center, one big pedestrian zone. The " finest drawing room in Europe", as Napoleon called it, is populated by tourists, photographers, and pigeons.
History
The topography of the place in the early Middle Ages could be reconstructed to some extent. The coast was therefore further north, ie closer to the Doge's Palace, the area of Molo at least to the 13th century represented a gently sloping coastal strip. In addition, proved a case of the Biblioteca Marciana 1888/89 discovered channel, the Rio Batario as a up to its backfilling in the 12th century across the square extending waterway. Investigations of the library and under the square promoted settlement traces evident from the second half of the 7th century.
The site dates from the 9th century, when in front of a modest Mark's Church, a small open space was created. Since that time, he was a place for announcements and acts of state of the city administration (see Doge ), as well as for the numerous festivals of the population, such as the Carnival of Venice.
The market place in its present form is the result of time widely separated urban development measures 1200-1600.
It was started 829 with the construction of a small burial church for the relics of St. Mark under the 11th and 12th Doge. According to legend, the remains of the apostle from Alexandria ( Egypt) had been kidnapped to Venice. For them, a church was erected in close proximity to an existing Dogenkastell at the site of the present Ducal Palace. 976 burned castle, church, and about 300 houses completely. The thus created space was used by the Doge Pietro I Orseolo for a reorganization of the area.
He received his present size, by 1156 by filling in the course of the river Rio Batario in the west and to the boat landing, which was located between the square and the Doge's Palace. Between 1172 and 1178 it was extended under the Doge Sebastiano Ziani to the west, and he was already evident in 1177, when Emperor Friedrich I visited the city, as a representative center of the city republic. Since 1267 the square was paved. 1340 the new building of the Ducal Palace was decided, which was rebuilt after the devastating fire of 1577 in its old form. Today's outline of Piazza and Piazzetta was finally determined only by the buildings of the 16th century.
Since 1722 the place of a plaster trachyte is covered on a design by Andrea Tirali, with the darker background brighter geometric pattern is added, which makes the place seem longer. Previously, he was similar to the Piazza del Campo in Siena, covered with a herringbone brick paving laid, which can still be seen in the paintings of Canaletto and Bellini.
Building
Starting on the Grand Canal are, counterclockwise, the following buildings on the site: The Doge's Palace, the Porta della Carta ( the link to the adjoining St. Mark's Basilica ), the clock tower, the Procuratie Vecchie, the Napoleonic Wing of the Magistrates, the Procuraties Nove, the Campanile with the Biblioteca Marciana and the Loggetta.
Porta della Carta
The gatehouse called the Doge's Palace (Italian: Palazzo Ducale ), the Porta della Carta, due to its once lush gilding also porta aurea, was built in 1438-1442 under the direction of Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. It opens access to the Scala dei Giganti, where the magnificent spectacle of Dogenkrönung was staged. The sculpture of the client Francesco Foscari is located above the portal. The Doge kneeling before Venice, represented by the winged lion of St Mark.
Clock Tower
The clock tower ( clocktower ) itself was built 1496-1499 by Mauro Codussi, the adjacent wings ( 1502-1506 ) submitted by Pietro Lombardo and 1755 were increased by the architect Giorgio Massari with a third floor. The astronomical clock with its dial lapis lazuli shows the sun and moon phases and zodiac signs. Two huge bronze figures beat on a bronze bell on the hour.
Urban planning, the junction is stressed to Merceria through the tower, on the other hand, it is the end of a run by the lake side of the square line of sight, the Piazza and Piazzetta visually connects.
In Prince Alfred Courtyard of the Grand Master 's Palace in Valletta is located on a tower with the Pinto -de- Fonseca - clock a Venetian original, inspired clock with chimes. The carillon was still that of the Leipzig Kroch tower (1927 /28) as a model.
The Magistrates
North, south and west sides of the square are bordered by the Magistrates, former administrative buildings of the republic. The old procurators in the north was built after the fire of an earlier building from 1514 under the direction of Bartolomeo Buon. The new Magistrates were built from 1583 under the direction of Vincenzo Scamozzi and 1616-1640 under Baldassare Longhena. The earlier rectangular square was now its trapezoidal shape. The tie bar on the west side - ala napoleonica - is a 19th century building. At the instigation of the French occupying power there before the final court church of San Gemigniano had been canceled with the facade by Sansovino, to make room for as required by the architecture of the new building of the Magistrates.
On the ground floor of the building you can find small shops and cafes, including the two most famous cafes of Venice, the Gran Caffè Quadri, Lavena and the Caffè Florian, opened in 1683 and the oldest coffee house in Europe. The Magistrates house the Museo Correr and the Archaeological Museum of Venice.
Campanile
The free-standing campanile is the Campanile, the bell tower of San Marco church. The brick building with the characteristic of Venice components of pale Istrian stone was built on older foundations and completed in the 12th century. He served the mariners as a fixed landmark and could be used by fire as a beacon in the night if necessary. The tower was damaged by earthquakes in its history or by the outbreak of fire several times. After 1500, the upper floor of the tower was crowned after the destruction by lightning, with a pyramid-like helmet on which a figure is built of gilded copper of the Archangel Gabriel. Then, the number of lightning that struck the tower, until finally in 1776 a lightning rod was installed. On 14 July 1902, the tower fell in on itself, without hurting a man, and was then completely rebuilt in its old form, ie as reconstruction: dov'era e com'era, where and how it was '.
The Loggetta
The Loggetta at the foot of the Campanile was built in 1537-1540 by Sansovino. She served the patricians of the city as a meeting place. In the reliefs and sculptures, the Republic of Venice is, with all its virtues - Skill in the war and with the commercial, political harmony, eloquence of its protagonists - glorified and shown their love of peace and the special protection by the Apostle Mark. The collapse of the Campanile parts of her figure jewelery were destroyed.
Biblioteca Marciana
The building of the Biblioteca Marciana was built by Sansovino to the new Magistrates and combines architectural with the Piazzetta San Marco square.
Olivetti Showroom
Olivetti made from 1957-58 by the Venetian Carlo Scarpa a showroom on St. Mark's Square, Shop No. 101 in 2006 was restored by the company and set back along with the products exhibited as a museum in the 1950s.
Piazzetta
The rest of the space slightly recessed portion between the Doge's Palace, the Biblioteca Marciana and the lagoon is called the Piazzetta San Marco. The Piazzetta is dominated by the two pillars, which are dedicated to Venice's St. Mark (Marco ) and Theodorus ( Todaro ); on the pillars are therefore the Lion of St. Mark and the San Todaro statue ( with Todaro on a dragon posing ). Here state guests were received and executions carried out, but also lucky players went here after their business.
Beyond the water surface formed by the Grand Canal (here as Bacino di San Marco), the Punta della Dogana is in addition to the built by Baldassare Longhena Santa Maria della Salute. In addition, here the old, in the years 1678-1682, built by Giuseppe Benoni customs house in Venice is ( Dogana da Mar ), the tower of which one carried by atlas globe bears ( to its original meaning, see here).