Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub
[graphic][merged small][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][merged small][merged small]
[graphic]

THE PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO.

Did you know the rare beauty of this virgin city, you would quickly make love to her, and change your Royal Exchange for the Rialto, and your Gray's-Inn Walks for St. Mark's Place.

HOWELL'S FAMILIAR LETTERS.

THE Piazza di San Marco, containing within its limits the most magnificent and striking edifices in Venice, presents, both to the mind and to the eye of the traveller, a picture of no common interest. It forms an oblong rectangle, surrounded on three sides by buildings exhibiting the most varied styles of architecture. On the south side stand the Procuratorie Nuove, commenced in 1583, from the designs of Sansovino, and completed under the directions of Scamozzi and other architects in the year 1682. The Procuratorie were originally erected for the accommodation of the procurators of St. Mark, but were converted by the French into a palace for the Viceroy of Italy, and are still used by the Austrians as apartments of state when the emperor visits Venice. On the north side of the square, opposite to the Procuratorie Nuove, stand the Procuratorie Vecchie, a range of buildings erected about the year 1500. The east side is filled with the Church of St. Mark, and on the west formerly stood the Church of St. Geminiani; but as that edifice interrupted the range of arcades which extended along the north and south sides of the piazza, it was removed

by the French, who constructed in its place the grand staircase of the palace, and continued the arcades along the west side of the square.

The most striking point of view from which to examine the architectural wonders of St. Mark's Place is the eastern end of the square, whence, in addition to the edifices which surround the piazza, the eye catches, in the adjoining piazzetta, the Ducal Palace and the Library of St. Mark, one of the most celebrated labours of Sansovino, and of which a faithful representation is given in the present volume. Passing a few paces onwards towards the columns of the piazzetta, the traveller obtains a view of the Church of S. Georgio Maggiore, one of the master efforts of Palladio.

In traversing the area of the Piazza di San Marco, the mind of the stranger is almost confounded with the varied recollections which it presents. The centre of an imperious républic-the great mart of Europe for so many centuries-the inner shrine of the temple of pleasurethe scene of many a dark intrigue, and of many a deed of blood and violence-in every point of view it offers associations more striking than any other city of Christendom can afford.

The sea,

that emblem of uncertainty,
Changed not so fast for many and many an age
As this small spot. To-day 't was full of masks,

And lo! the madness of the carnival,

The monk, the nun, the holy legate, masked.
To-morrow came the scaffold and the wheel;
And he died there by torch-light, bound and gagg'd,
Whose name and crime they knew not.

« PredošláPokračovať »