Doreen has an irreverent attitude to the Doges, that is, the Dukes that ran Venice for something like 800 years. All I can say is that it is a good thing that they don’t treat the Doges here the way they treat the Royal Family in Thailand. Or else she would be spending some LONG hours in a Venetian jail.

I have mentioned the Doges before, and some of the monuments to their glory and wealth. Venice had so much money, they really didn’t know what to do with it all. One of the ways that they would solve that problem was by building churches and commissioning great works of art. I think that we talked about San Marco before (I know that it was in Doreen’s Italian church series) but the thing to keep in mind is that San Marco was originally built as the Doge’s PRIVATE CHAPEL!!! It is connected to the Doge’s Palace directly, and this is where they liked to have Mass said for them. (There is a long a tumultuous relationship between Venice and Rome – in particular between the Pope and the Doges. The Doges never set themselves up as religious leaders, but The Pope did not like the independence and tolerance of the Venetian Republic. There are many stories of intrigues between the two cities)

As Doreen said earlier, ship’s captains were compelled to bring back "Gifts" for San Marco with every journey. They indeed did return with the riches of the east. In the Treasury of the church, there are numerous beautiful pieces that had been plundered and stolen from Turkey, The Holy Land, and almost anywhere else that Venetian boats wandered (which was a large area. Remember that Marco Polo was Venetian) When in the treasury, we listened to a little recorded description of the "stuff" they had (Including a reliquary with St George’s hand. Yes, the St George who killed the dragon. It was a "representational reliquary" looking like St George killing the dragon. That is how you knew who’s hand it was…) Other relics are more amazing. A vial of Our Savior’s Blood, a large piece of the True Cross, one of the Nails from the True Cross, a piece of the pillar to which Jesus was bound when scourged, one of Mary Magdalene’s fingers. Doreen also spoke of the wonderful mosaics on the floor, and they are really hard to imagine without seeing. The other details within the church as impressive as the exterior and the mosaics.

On one of the columns, the leaves of the capital (I don’t have photos, you are not supposed to take any in that church) are shown as if in a strong wind, and they are all blowing in the same direction. One of the statues is of St Mark, and his lion is shown jumping up on him as if it was a puppy glad to see his master home. (NB, y’all may remember us talking about the "Sad Guy" from our piazza. He has a little red poodle that treats him the same way.)

The views from the top of St Mark’s looks into the square itself, the Doge’s Palace, and out into the lagoon. You can see why someone would want to have this as their private place. It is beautiful.

The Doges did not live in the church, though, they lived in the Doge’s palace. It is another spectacular building, and the art and decorations in it are not to be missed. When a new Doge was chosen, he brought all his beautiful stuff with him to the palace. When he died, however, his family was there to take the stuff back. Only the stuff that the state paid for remained in the palace.

Before we went into the Doge’s palace, though, we went up into the campanile that is in the square.

Now, Doreen has written about our trip to the top of the bell tower, but I need to explain a bit more. The bell tower is large, probably 20’ on a side. Hanging above, JUST within my reach were five very large bells. It turns out that each bell has a name, and a task. Il Nono, for example, rings the noon hour. Others ring at other times. It is hard to believe how big these bells really are. The clappers were easily as long as I am tall, and the bell’s diameter is about five feet. Looking up at the bells, which are made out of bronze, you can see a complicated series of chains and axles on which the bells hung and rotated. If you looked closely, and I had to stretch to see this, you could see a bit of the bronze color where the clapper evidently hit the bell. As you all know, bronze gets a green patina with age. Think of the Statue of Liberty.

As has been recorded before, I was looking up at the bells and idly wondering whether or not they would ring with people in the tower. I mentioned this to one or two people that were standing by, and told them that if there would ring, it would almost certainly be done about noon. But I could not believe that they would be rung while the place was full of tourists. And us, too. I had a vague uneasiness, however, because I remember the bells of Notre Dame in Paris ringing regardless of who or how many people were on the top of that cathedral.

We were in line to descend just before noon, but the small elevator couldn’t fit everyone inside. We were two away from the door when it closed, and just as it closed, it came straight up noon, at least by the San Marco clock. At that time, the BIGGEST bell started swinging VIOLENTLY. Doreen said "swayed" which is a nice picturesque verb, but this bell was really screaming back and forth in that tower! Even though I KNEW that it could not possibly hit me (Remember that I could barely touch the clapper with my outstretched hands) I ducked. It was like having ten tons of bronze swept over your head like a straw broom. I cannot even begin to describe the feelings as you could see the clapper get closer and closer to the bell (it took about four fast swings to get the bell to ring) and then the tremendous low frequency GONG when then ringing started. You could HEAR and FEEL this sound with your whole body. We were all crouching down, Keith was shouting "The Bells! The Bells! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" when the elevator finally arrived. Doreen was unconcerned, and indeed felt at home. We crowded in rapidly and left, with some of our hearing still in tact. Remember that Doreen is deaf in one ear, so she especially can identify with Quasimodo. (Ed. Note: the funniest part of this story is still the piece where Dan was so sure the bells would never ring with tourists up there, and he was trying to frighten the girls with threats (my word – "idly wondering" his words – you decide.) that they would! Ha! dns)

When we got back to the square, and regained our hearing, we went into the Doge’s Palace. It has a beautiful courtyard (but no grass. In my experience, Europeans do not seem to like grass in either parks or courtyards. Makes maintenance easier.)

You get a feel for the wealth of old Venice here. The stone work (Much of which has been replaced, but the originals are still in a museum inside the palace) and the art, including the world’s largest old master on canvas (24 meters by 7.5 meters) show just how much money these people had to spend on entertainment. Michael Eisner is not the first to get rich off of people’s desire to have fun.

Many of the original capitals to the columns were maintained as well. They were all different and showed trades, different races, and people during devotional exercises. Within the palace, we did not take many photos (They were not allowed, by and large) but we managed a couple. I really like this Titian, of St Christopher taking Jesus across the water. Though you can’t see in the photograph, the water is the Venice Lagoon.

The palace is really a self-contained community, including (of course) trial chambers and prisons. The Venetians set great store by anonymous denunciation, and indeed, there are little "bocca di leones" monuments around the city, where you could drop in incriminating notes about your neighbors. The neighbors would then be tortured, and maybe released, or maybe sent to prison. The prisons are just over the Bridge of Sighs from the palace. It got its name because the prisoners would sigh as they crossed over, knowing that they would never see Venice again. The cells here had nothing on the Conciergerie in Paris. Small, dank, and completely dark, it would not be a good place to spend your dying days. But so much intrigue occurred here, that I think the cells were full most of the time.

Enough of the Doges for now. But rest assured, they will appear again. Also, soon to come: The Battle of Ventano, (Thank you John Sherman) and A Poor Venetian who gets Flayed Alive by those Dastardly Turks, Doge Tombs, Bologna (the oldest university in the west AND sausage, too!) and More Relaxation.

BACK TO THE GRAND TOUR HOMEPAGE!!!