VENICE 



593 



the refuge for their cares; all that she 

 has achieved and surrered Venice has 

 done under the protecting wing of St. 

 Mark. 



On looking toward the main facade, 

 we are overpowered by the mass which 

 has been piled up by the wealth of the 

 city and the fertility of her creative 

 power. Five mighty arches, supported 

 on noble columns, form the entrance to 

 the outer vestibule, and the bronze doors 

 leading into the interior, the mosaics 

 upon a background of gold, the many- 

 colored marbles — all these make so pro- 

 found an impression on us that we stand 

 still and gaze upward in bewilderment. 

 Each by itself is a wonder! (page 583). 



It is known that the famous group of 

 four horses, which stands above the main 

 portal, is of the antique Roman period 

 and was for a long time in Byzantium, 

 the capital of the Empire of the West. 

 The Doge Dandolo, at the age of 95, led 

 on the Venetians to the storming of 

 Constantinople (1203). He was nearly 

 blind, but a fiery life still glowed in his 

 veins ; his name indicates the apex of 

 the Venetian military power ; his monu- 

 ment consists of the noblest architectural 

 treasures of the city (see page 590). 



TROPHIES FROM everywhere; 



The Church of St. Mark contains tro- 

 phies from all parts of the world; every 

 stone has a history. Those two great 

 pillars at the entrance to the baptistery 

 were part of the booty of Acre. The 

 bronze folding doors were once in the 

 Church of St. Sophia at Stamboul. The 

 marble columns, which stand right and 

 left of the main portal, are said to have 

 been taken from the Temple in Jerusa- 

 lem. The broad flagstones on which we 

 stand — ^three squares of red marble — 

 still narrate to us how Barbarossa once 

 prostrated himself before Pope Alexan- 

 der: "Non tibi, sed Petro." "Bt Petro 

 et mihi!" 



In examining the mosaics which fill 

 the vaulted roof we find ourselves in the 

 midst of the Old Testament history; 

 among forms which, with all their hard- 

 ness, are yet not devoid of fervent ex- 

 pression and, with all their Byzantine 

 stiflr'ness, have still much earnest dignity. 

 Paradise, the First Blessings, and the 



First Sorrows of Man are the subjects 

 of them (see page 604). 



But let us pass beyond this outer ves- 

 tibule into the interior of the church, in 

 whose half twilight a richer depth of 

 color glows. All is covered with a mass 

 of mosaics and somber marbles. On the 

 parapet which divides the choir from the 

 nave stand figures of the Apostles in 

 blackened bronze, and above the high 

 altar, where the bones of St. Mark re- 

 pose, rises a baldaquin upon twisted 

 columns (see page 594). 



How wondrous is the eft'ect of the whole 

 when the sunshine streams through the 

 windows ; when the organ fills every cor- 

 ner of the church with its invisible flood; 

 when we seem to realize the fervor of 

 all the past generations who have knelt 

 here in prayer and praise, offering them 

 up with different minds from ours of 

 today, but with hearts so like to our 

 hearts ! 



THE DUCAE PALACE 



What St. Alark's is as the expression 

 of the religious spirit, that the Ducal 

 Palace is for the secular power of Ven- 

 ice ; it has scarcely a rival, even in Italy 

 (see page 582). The Doge's palace, as 

 it stands before us now, was begun in 

 the fourteenth century and completed in 

 the fifteenth after a long interruption, 

 for the earlier building, which dated 

 from Carlovingian times, fell a prey to 

 the flames. Two mighty ranges of col- 

 umns, one above another, support the 

 broad, massive upper buildings — a huge, 

 clear, flat surface, whose peaceful unity 

 is only broken by the Gothic arched win- 

 dows which admit light into the noble 

 halls within. 



Here every line is classic. The very 

 position of the palace, its relation to the 

 church of St. Alark, its two fronts — one 

 commanding the piazzetta and the other 

 the sea — declare the inner significance of 

 the building ; it is the foundation, the 

 very corner-stone of all A^enetian splen- 

 dors. The court, into which the Porta 

 della Carta leads, is princely and has 

 something colossal about it, even before 

 we perceive the Scala dei Giganti — that 

 marble staircase, with the figures of 

 Mars and Neptune, on whose topmost 

 step the Doge was wont to be crowned. 



