Venice (Prov-ference contains about)

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

a prov-ference, contains about 28,000 houses, and is divided into two parts by the Grand Canal, or Canal Grande. Over this canal there are three bridges, that of the Rialto, the most magnificent bridge in Venice, consisting of a single arch 90 feet in span and 24 feet in height, built of marble in 1590. Two ranges of shops divide its upper surface into three narrow parallel streets. Venice is regarded as one of the finest cities in Europe, and was for many centuries the capital of the first maritime and commercial state in the world. It consequently contains proportionally a larger number of public buildings and palatial residences than any other city in Europe; among the most celebrated of its national edifices, first mention must be given to that stupendous building, the pride and glory of Venice, the ducal palace of St. Mark, with the catheof a square, the grandest and most imposing quarter of all the city. The square of St. Mark-with its arcades, elegant shops and cafés, the its fine and e vast grandeur of its ducal residence containing all the chambers of state, audience, and judicature, and its magnificent cathedral-presents a picture of grandeur and beauty unequaled by any eapital in Europe. The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) stretches across the canal called the Rio Palazzo, and communicates between prisons on the E., and the Doge's palace on the W. bank of the canal. It is a covered gallery; and prisoners, when led to execution, passed from their cells across this gallery to the palace, to hear sentence of death passed upon them, and then were conducted to the scene of death between the red columns. Few cities in Italy are richer in works of pictorial art than Venice; some of the masterpieces of Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and the other great chiefs of the Venetian school, are to be found in all the churches of this extraordinary city. The library (a fine marble structure, containing 120,000 volumes and 10,000 MSS.), the museum, and cabinet of curiosities of St. Mark's are regarded as the finest in Europe. The arsenal and dockyard are esteemed as worthy objects of attraction; the latter, in the palmy days of Venice, contained 40 line-of-battle ships, 12 of them three-deckers, with arms for 150,- 000 men, 4,000 pieces of ordnance, and an immense amount of naval and military store, with provision and every requisite to maintain its reputation as one of the first commercial and maritime states in the world. For many centuries, in the Middle Ages, Venice had the monopoly of all the glass sold to Europe; but this has long since passed away, and its chief trade is now confined to the manufacture of mirrors, jewelry, artificial pearls, silks, velvets, and porcelain. The foundation of Venice was laid in 421, as a place of refuge during the invasion of Italy by Attila. In 697 took place the establishment of an elective prince or Doge, with the appellation of Serene Highness-Paoluccio Anafesto being the first Doge or Duke of Venice. At first the power of the Doge was absolute, but in time restrictions were placed on his rule, till eventually he became a mere cipher and symbol of authority in the hands of the famous Council of Ten. The prosperity and power of Venice began with the dawn of the 9th century. In 1133, the