For our Sibling Trip my brother @jarvie, sister Kristen and I went to Italy, England and Scotland.
We started the trip in Venice, Italy! See my recent post Share My World: Venice: Part 1 for the day we spent together. This is a special extended post on Piazza San Marco or St. Mark's Square.
Piazza San Marco
When standing in the square you are surrounded on all sides by very distinct and interesting architecture. On the east end is Basilica di San Marco or St. Mark's Basilica, and the Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace). To the north and south are the buildings of the Procuratie, the former offices of the Procurators, the chief officals of the Republic 1. In the square is also the Torre dell'Orologio or clock tower and the campanile. All of which you can see in the picture below.
Note: You can click on all photos to see them larger.
Video with my DSLR.
Chillin' in the piazza
Photo credit: @jarvie
Basilica di San Marco or St. Mark's Basilica
In my desire to learn more about the places I was going to visit. I listened to Dan Brown's mystery thriller novel Inferno. It was so fun to see the basilica in person, especially the horses!
The Horses of St. Mark are a set of four bronze horse statues on a balcony above St. Mark’s Basilica. As Langdon notes, the horses were brought to Venice after being pillaged from Constantinople in 1204. However, the originals have been moved for preservation, while the ones described in the book that can be seen in the square are replicas. 2
The decorative collars were added to the horses’ necks in 1204 by the Venetians to conceal where the heads had been severed to facilitated their transportation by ship from Constantinople to Venice. 3
St. Mark's Campanile
The campanile or bell tower is 323 feet (98.6 meters) tall. I has a long and tragic history. 4
The construction was started in 1173
It was severely damaged in 1388
Set on fire and destroyed in 1417
Seriously damaged by fire in 1489
Damaged by an earthquake in 1511
It was damaged in both 1548 and 1556
Lighting damaged it in 1658
A fire from lighting in 1745
Damaged again by lightning in 1761 and 1762
It collapsed in 1902
It was rebuilt in 1912
Another cool fact about the bell tower
Each of the five bells of the campanile had a special purpose. The Renghiera (or the Maleficio) announced executions; the Mezza Terza proclaimed a session of the Senate; the Nona sounded midday; the Trottiera called the members of the Maggior Consiglio to council meetings and the Marangona, the biggest, rang to mark the beginning and ending of working day. They are tuned in the scale of A. 4
Torre dell'Orologio or Clock Tower
In 1493, the Venetian Republic commissioned Giovan Paolo Rainieri the clock The clock was inaugurated on February 1, 1497.
In 1752 Bartolomeo Ferracina started work on replacing the clock, having successfully tendered for the job in public competition.
In 1857 Luigi de Lucia started another restoration, and added a digital display.
In 1996, another restoration was initiated, to be funded by watchmakers Piaget. 5
I especially like the winged lion that you can see on the clock tower and other places around Venice. It is the symbol of St. Mark.
Venice is a great city. I enjoyed spending an afternoon there with my friends wandering around the beautiful and unique city.
Sources
1 Procuratie
2 Horses
3 Horses
4 Campanile
5 Clock tower
Share My World Series
2018
All the 2018 post are here My Year Journey on Steem
2019
Share My World: Sweet Sacred Experience
Share My World: Red Rock Scenic Byway
Share My World: Grand Canyon in the Snow
Share My World: Grief and General Conference Weekend
Share My World: Grief and Grieving
Share My World: Nebo Loop drive
All Kenya Posts are here Share My World: Memories around the fire
Share My World: 3 years
Share My World: Sibling trip
Share My World: Venice, Italy: Part 1