The Doge's Palace, also known as Palazzo Ducale, is the main attraction of Venice, an architectural monument made in the Gothic style. The author of the project is Filippo Calendario. The palace was built between 1309 and 1424, and although it was badly damaged by a fire in 1577, it was rebuilt in the old style, even though the Renaissance was beginning. The building was the residence of the Doge. The Doge was the ruler of the Venetian Republic, elected for life by tiered voting. The applicants were representatives of influential families of Venice. The institution of the Doges existed for more than a thousand years and was abolished by Napoleon in 1797.
The Doge's Palace also housed the Venetian government, the Supreme Court, the chancellery, the secret police, the naval department and others. Currently, the palace is a museum, but the paintings in it were not added as exhibits, but were painted specifically to decorate the Doge's Palace.
The special appearance of this masterpiece of Gothic architecture is due to the way its creators managed to place this gigantic single mass on thin curved arches of Istrian marble. They achieved visual balance and created surprisingly light upper floors - they cut out arched windows and clad the walls in Verona pink marble. The effect is enhanced by the jagged spire cornice at the top of the building - the palace seems to float in the air. The massive facade rests on a foundation of wooden beams planted on the bottom of the lagoon.
Two columns of red marble (the ninth and tenth) remind us of the dark past of the palace - the Doge once stood between them and announced death sentences. Red color is a symbol of blood.
The main entrance to the Doge's Palace is the "Paper Door" (Porta della Carta), which connects it to St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco). The door is decorated on all sides with decorative figures, and on the portal Doge Francesco Foscari kneels before the Lion of St. Mark, which is a kind of symbol of the fact that in the Venetian Republic people bowed to power.
The name “Paper Door” is due to the fact that in the past office employees sat here and helped citizens make requests addressed to council members.
If you walk to the end of the facade from the Grand Canal, you will see another symbol of Venice - the “Bridge of Sighs” (Ponte dei Sospiri). It connects the Doge's Palace with the prison from which the prisoners last saw Venice when they were led before the judge to be sentenced to death.
The "paper door" leads through the Foscari arch into the large central courtyard.
Here is the "Staircase of the Giants" (Scala dei Giganti), which will take you to the state apartments on the top floor.
At the bottom of the stairs are two marble statues of Mars and Neptune, symbolizing the strength of Venice both on land and sea.
To the left of the stairs is the courtyard of the senators (Cortile dei Senatori), where they gathered during ceremonial events.
Now let's go to the palace. The Great Council Hall (Sala del Maggior Consiglio) held meetings of the council; it was supposed to accommodate 1800 people with voting rights. Here they discussed and made decisions that turned the Venetian Republic into a world-class state.
The hall was painted by the greatest artists of their time - Pisanello, Bellini, Carpaccio and Titian. But a fire in 1577 destroyed most of their works. The new hall was painted by Tintoretto, Veronese, Palma the Younger and Francesco Bassano. One of the masterpieces of the hall is Veronese’s painting “The Triumph of Venice.”
In the Great Council Hall there are portraits of all the doges who ruled Venice. Only the portrait of one Doge, Marino Faliero, is painted black - he was beheaded for treason on the Giant's Staircase.
The Golden Staircase (Scala d'Oro), named after its luxurious gilded decoration, is a wonderful sight.
According to many, the most beautiful in the Doge's Palace is the Hall of the College (Sala del Collegio), where the College (Cabinet of Ministers) met under the chairmanship of the Doge and made important decisions for the Republic.
On the ceiling are wonderful paintings by Veronese, embodying the great ideals of Venice, and on the walls are paintings by Tintoretto and his students.
This is what the Senate Hall looks like (Sala del Senato):
It is worth noting the “Hall of four doors” (Sala delle Quattro Porte). Here, each door is decorated with a rare type of marble and decorated with statues:
The Chamber of the Council of Ten (Sala del Consiglio dei Dieci) was a secret state court. He was responsible for the work of the secret police and controlled all aspects of public and private life:
The decisions of this council were not subject to appeal. There was a secret staircase in the hall, along which the convicts were taken to one of the seven prison cells on the upper floor. This prison was called Piombi, which means "bullet prison". It was terribly hot there in the summer and cold in the winter. In the entire history of Piombi, only one prisoner managed to escape - the famous adventurer, lover of women, traveler and writer Giacomo Casanova.
Next to the door of the "Compass Room" (Sala della Bussola), where those summoned to the "Council of Ten" awaited interrogation, there is a box called "Lion's Gate" (Bocca di Leone). There is a special hole in the box into which you could throw a denunciation card:
In the hall of the inquisitors (Sale dei Inquisitori) the inquisitors interrogated the criminals. In the middle of the ceiling you will see Tintoretto's painting "The Return of the Prodigal Son".
In the east wing of the second floor there are small apartments. Behind them is a small art gallery containing works by Bellini, Boccaccio, Tiepolo and Tintoretto.
The Hall of the Arms (Sala dello Scudo) is part of the Doge's apartments. Here the ruler of the city-state received guests of the palace. His family coat of arms hung on the central wall. The hall is decorated with two ancient globes and huge geographical maps:
You will probably be interested in the "Armory" (Armeria di palazzo), where various weapons are displayed XV-XVII centuries:
Among the exhibits, we note the “damn chest”, when opened, firing was carried out from four pistols hidden in it, a poisoned arrow and a 20-barreled arquebus - the ancestor of the machine gun.
Address of the Doge's Palace: Piazza San Marco, 1/piazzetta San Marco, 2. If you are at Santa Lucia train station or Piazzale Roma, take vaporetto №1 - stop Vallaresso/San Zaccaria, number 2 - stop Giardinetti, №5.1, 4.1 - stop San Zaccaria.
Ticket price (purchase online no later than 30 days before the visit/purchase on site): 25/30 euros, for children 6–14 years old, for schoolchildren and students 15–25 years old, for persons over 65 – 13/15 euros, under 6 years – free. The ticket also includes admission to the halls of the Corer Museum, the National Archaeological Museum and the Marciana Library.
For more information, visit the official website of the Doge's Palace: https://palazzoducale.visitmuve.it.
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