Page 83 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

SAN M ARC O  81

5 Libreria 7 Columns of
Sansoviniana San Marco and
San Teodoro
Piazzetta (entrance from Museo
Correr). Map 7 B3. Tel 041 240 72 11 Piazzetta. Map 7 C3. 4 San Marco.
(Biblioteca Marciana). 4 San Marco.
Open 10am–5pm daily. Closed Along with all the bounty from
public hols. & 8 ^
Constantinople came the two
Praised by Andrea Palladio as the huge granite columns which
finest building since antiquity, now tower above the Piazzetta.
the library was designed in the These were said to have been
Classical style by the architect erected in 1172 by the engineer
Jacopo Sansovino. During Nicolò Barattieri, architect of
construction (1537–88) the very first Rialto Bridge. For
the vaulting collapsed; his efforts he was granted
Sansovino was blamed the right to set up
and imprisoned. He was gambling tables A Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Hat by
freed after appeals from between the columns. Carpaccio (c.1490)
eminent acquaintances, A more gruesome
but had to reconstruct spectacle on the same 8 Museo Correr
the building at his spot was the execution Procuratie Nuove (entrance Ala Napo-
own expense. of criminals, which took leonica). Map 7 B2. Tel 041 240 52 11.
At the top of the place here until the mid- 4 San Marco. Open 10am–7pm
monumental stairway 18th century. Even today, daily (Nov–Mar: to 5pm). Closed 1 Jan,
(see p79), behind a booth, superstitious Venetians 25 Dec. & allows access to Libreria
is a rare example of will not be seen walking Sansoviniana & Museo Archeologico.
Jacopo de’ Barbari’s between the columns. ^ - = ∑ correr.visitmuve.it
bird’s-eye map of Venice The western column
dating to 1500. is crowned by a With the 19th-century Royal
The salon is marble statue of Palace serving as backdrop,
sumptuously St Theodore, who a collection of statues by
decorated and was the patron saint Antonio Canova (1757–1822)
features two fine of Venice before is the first exhibit at the Museo
ceiling paintings Columns of San Marco St Mark’s relics were Correr. This is followed by the
by Paolo Veronese, and San Teodoro smuggled from bathroom and boudoir of Sissi,
Arithmetic and Alexandria in AD 828. the Empress Elizabeth, along
Geometry and Music. The statue is a modern copy – with other sumptuous rooms
the original is kept for safety laid out in the 1830s and 1850s
6 Museo in the Doge’s Palace (see p92). that make up the restored
The second column is
Imperial Apartments. The next
Archeologico surmounted by a huge bronze section, titled Venetian Culture,
of the Lion of St Mark. Its origin is found in the older Procuratie
Piazzetta (9am–7pm: entrance
from Museo Correr). Map 7 B3. remains a mystery, though it is Nuove. This collection captures
Tel 041 296 76 63. 4 San Marco. thought to be a Chinese the history of the Venetian
Open 10am–7pm daily (Nov–Mar: to chimera with wings added to Republic, from daily life to
5pm). Closed 1 Jan, 25 Dec. & 8 ^ make it look like a Venetian lion. its peculiar public institutions,
In September 1990 the 3,000-kg through maps, armour and
Housed in rooms in both (3-ton) beast went to the British a host of doge-related exhibits.
the Libreria Sansoviniana and Museum in London for extensive On the second floor is the
the Procuratie Nuove, the restoration, and was returned Wunderkammer (Collection
museum provides a quiet with great ceremony and skill of Wonders), which draws from
retreat from the bustle of to the top of the column. the legacy of the wealthy Abbot
San Marco. The collection Teodoro Correr and includes
owes its existence to coins, a narwhal tooth and the
the generosity famous Map of Venice by Jacopo
of Domenico de Barbari. The Pinacoteca picture
Grimani, son of gallery is also located on this floor.
Doge Antonio The images are displayed chrono-
Grimani, who logically so that the evolution of
bequeathed all of Venetian painting is evident. The
his Greek, Roman most famous works in the gallery
and earlier are the Carpaccios: A Portrait of a
sculpture, together with his Fragment from a monumental statue, in Young Man in a Red Hat (c.1490)
library, to the State in 1523. the Museo Archeologico and Two Venetian Ladies (c.1507).

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