Fondaco dei Tedeschi
The Fondaco dei Tedeschi ( Fondaco (after Arabic Funduk, commodity exchange ) the Germans) was the establishment of German merchants in Venice on the Grand Canal next to the Rialto Bridge.
History
In the district of San Bartolomeo of the lagoon city of Venice there are early German merchants and craftsmen seeking work. A document in the Venetian archives called in December 1213 for example, a goldsmith " Bernardus Teotonicus ". On the basis of the contract of sale to the Venetian Council for the bottom shelf dated some historians the beginnings of the Fondaco to the year 1222, others tend to go back to 1225, but most of the year 1228, since the building is documented for the first time on December 5, 1228. The term " Fondaco dei Tedeschi ", however, was first used in 1268. A device with a similar function, there was in Venice but probably already before 1200, although not in a single building. After a fire in the night from 27 to January 28, 1505 Venice paid for his Reconstruction ( 1508), designed by Fra Giovanni Giocondo under the supervision of Antonio Abbondi and let the facade of Titian and Giorgione, not painted with frescoes, which today more can be seen. The German merchants of Venice in the " Fondaco dei Tedeschi " ordered by Albrecht Dürer for the church of St. Bartholomew a large image, the Feast of the Rosary.
Through the open arcades on the ground floor goods were a loaded and unloaded. The residents were under Venetian control. Like many other ideas had the Venetians also adopted the concept of a trading house and even the naming of the Orient, in which she knew about good and where they were forced to live in " Fondaci " and to trade. In the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, the foreign merchants from northern and central Europe had to live and set up their office, so one's own warehouse. Upon her arrival in Venice, it was strictly forbidden to bark leaders to drive the merchants to another place - a bridge between the mainland and lagoon city had to wait until the 19th century. Even the Venetians had been forbidden to take up merchants with him; but they were not always so strict because other visitors who were not merchants were free to choose a hotel in the city. Until the Germans the sole use of the Fondaco was awarded, lived here also Hungarians, Austrians and Flemish. For meals, there were Fondaco two panels that are a little reflected the order of precedence: The Regensburg panel was the second league and to her belonged Regensburg, Augsburg, Ulm, Biberach, Ravensburg, Constance, Vienna, Enns, Linz, Gmunder, Salzburg and Ljubljana. The first league, the Nuremberg panel, were the inhabitants of Nuremberg, Cologne, Basel, Strasbourg, Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Frankfurt and Lübeck. Known merchant families who traded in the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, were among others the Nuremberg Imhoff, Koler, Kress, Mendel and Paumgartner, the Augsburg Fugger and Höchstetter.
From Venice merchants imported mainly spices: saffron, pepper, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and sugar. Even foods that were known and popular in the Mediterranean, made their way from the Adriatic Sea to the Pegnitz, such as olive oil, almonds, figs, lemons and oranges, jams and wines like Malvasia and Chierchel. There were more valuable products such as coral, pearls, precious stones, glass products manufacturing in Murano and the textile industry, such as silk, cotton and Damasttücher, velvet, brocade, gold thread, and Kamelotte Boccasin. Paper and books rounded out the assortment to the spirit side.
In the 19th century the leading figure among these merchants Vittorio Tedeschi, the good connections to the Transylvanian ( Transylvanian ) needle and the Austria -Hungarian Empire was entertained.
From 1870 to 2011, the building housed the General Post Office of Venice. As early as 2008 it had been sold to the Benetton Group. The new owner wants to leave the complex by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas converted into a shopping and exhibition center. These plans met with resistance in the population of Venice and end of May 2012 were finally rejected by the National Committee for Architecture. He was following the recommendations of the Scientific Committee of Architecture and Landscape of the National Ministry of Culture and the Venetian monument authorities in full. The National Committee looked into the planned, massive changes in the building structure ( including the construction of an additional upper level by partial demolition of the roof, additional installation of escalators in the courtyard as well as the installation of a floating dock on the Grand Canal ) a strong " anti- historical character " of the " historical significance of such a building " was not appropriate.