Page 95 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Venice & The Veneto

DOGE ’ S P ALA CE  93

investigate and prosecute 3,000 guests were entertained
crimes concerning the security in this spectacular room.
of the State. Napoleon pilfered By the mid-16th century the
some of the Veroneses from the Great Council had around 2,000
ceiling but two of the finest members. Any Venetian of high
found their way back here in birth over 25 was entitled to a
1920: Age and Youth and Juno seat – with the exception of
Offering the Ducal Crown to those married to a commoner.
Venice (both 1553–4). From 1646, by which time the
In the next room, the Sala della Turkish wars had depleted State
Bussola, offenders awaited coffers, nobility from the
their fate in front of the terra firma or those
Council of Ten. The from merchant or View of the lagoon through a grille on the
room’s bocca di professional classes Bridge of Sighs
leone (lion’s with 100,000
mouth), used to ducats to spare Prisons
post secret could purchase
denunciations, their way in. From the Sala del Maggior
was just one of Tintoretto’s Consiglio a series of
several within huge, highly passageways and stairways
the palace. The restored work leads to the Bridge of Sighs
wooden door called Paradise (see p117), which links the palace
here leads to the (1587–90) to what were known as the
rooms of the occupies the New Prisons, built between
Heads of the Ten, eastern wall. 1556 and 1595.
the State Measuring 7.45 by Situated at the top of the
Inquisitors’ Room 24.65 m (25 by 81 ft), palace, just below the leaded
and thence to the it is one of the largest roof, are the piombi cells
torture chamber and paintings in the (piombo means “lead”). These
prisons. This is the Age and Youth (1553–54) world. For a man in cells are hardly inviting, but
route taken by those by Veronese his late seventies, prisoners here were far more
on the Secret Itinerary. albeit assisted by comfortable than the criminals
Others follow the flow to his son, it is a remarkably who were left to fester in the
the Armoury – one of the finest vigorous composition. pozzi – the dark dank dungeons
collections in Europe, thanks The ceiling of the hall is at ground level. The windowless
in part to bequests by decorated with panels cells of these ancient prisons are
European monarchs. glorifying the Republic. One still covered with the graffiti of
of the finest is Veronese’s the convicts. Visitors on the
Apotheosis of Venice (1583). Secret Itinerary tour are shown
Sala del Maggior A frieze along the walls illustrates Casanova’s cell in the piombi
Consiglio 76 doges by Tintoretto’s pupils. and told of how he made his
Another staircase, the Scala dei The portrait covered by a curtain daring escape from the palace
Censori, leads down to the is Marin Falier, beheaded for through a hole in the roof.
second floor, along the hallway treason in 1355. The other 42 Visits end with the offices of
and past the Sala del Guariento doges are portrayed in the Sala the Avogaria, where the state
with fresco fragments of The dello Scrutinio, where new prosecutors (avogadori)
Coronation of the Virgin by doges were nominated. prepared the trials.
Guariento (1365–7). From the
liagò, or veranda, where Antonio
Rizzo’s marble statues of Adam
and Eve (1480s) are displayed,
visitors pass into the
magnificent Sala del Maggior
Consiglio or Hall of the Great
Council. A chamber of
monumental proportions, it was
here that the Great Council
convened to vote on
constitutional questions, to pass
laws and elect the top officials
of the Serene Republic. The hall
was also used for State
banquets. When Henry III of
France paid a royal visit, The splendid Sala del Maggior Consiglio, the hall of the Great Council

092-093_EW_Venice.indd 93 06/08/15 11:03 am