6/14 Venice Intro

I had been looking forward to coming back to Venice (I was here last in 2006) simply because I was tired of all the cars in Rome! It feels a bit strange to walk in the middle of the streets with all of the other pedestrians, not having to worry about getting run over by someone in a SmartCar. But were we walking in the streets? Or are the streets actually the canals here in Venice? It’s a strange sensation to walk down the “street” and come to a waterway, mostly because I’ve never lived in a city where this was the case. I guess I would categorize the places where people walk as somewhere between a street and a sidewalk; it’s a bit of both. Nonetheless it’s quite an odd condition to experience, and is probably very unique in the world.

Obviously, the first place we had to go when we arrived in Venice was the Piazza San Marco, a place which Napoleon once called “the drawing room of Europe”. It is trapezoidal in shape, owing to the fact that all of the parts that make it up today were not all designed at the same time. The south side, for instance, has been moved back in the 19^th century away from the tower (original 12^th century, restored 16^th century) in order to set it free as an object and give it more prominence in the square. This creates a more or less axial view of the cathedral, as seen from the other end of the piazza. Next to St. Peter’s square and the Piazza del Popolo, I would have to say that this is one of the largest squares we have visited so far on our trip (if you could the entire L shape). It doesn’t feel as empty, however, as I felt when I was in the Piazza del Popolo, and is quite an amazing showcase for Venetian culture. Venice was seen during the Middle Ages and Renaissance to be the Gateway to the Orient: it is at the head of the Adriatic sea and anyone traveling from Northern Europe would have been obliged to recognize the strategic importance of this location with regards to its ability to trade via the sea. It did not begin as a Roman creation; it has borrowed heavily from Byzantine influences, specifically Constantinople. A crusade was organized around 1215 by the Duke of Doge which even sought to bring back relics to Venice from Constantinople.

It is immediately evident looking at the church of San Marco that there is little to no resemblance to the other churches we saw in Florence. Yes, the arches are somewhat Romanesque, but it is quite a different structure after that. it has none of the verticality of those churches in Florence; rather the façade is more horizontal due to its 5 portals that run along the front side. A typical Gothic or Renaissance church would have three portals; however since this church started in the 9^th century, it had none of these precedents from which to work and since Venice was heavily involved in trading with the Eastern Roman Empire and the Islamic world, much of their influences are evident here. I did not realize until the presentation today just how old San Marco was. The basilica began as far back as 829, which took cues from a 6^th century church in Constantinople built by Justinian and finds itself squarely in the medieval realm. Its Greek cross plan is emphasized on the exterior by having a dome over each extended arm and the centroid, topping off a structure whose main emphasis seems to be on the exotic and Byzantine rather than the rational. This concept is further reinforced through the fact that each of the niches on the exterior that are carved out by porticos has supporting columns that are all completely different from each other. Some are made of green stone, some porphyry, and some marble. There seems to be no shortage of spolio at the exterior of this church. The inside is no less fanciful and decorated than the outside. It reminds me a bit of the Baptistery of St. John in that its mosaic work is unparalleled to anything we have seen before. Scenes from the Bible in golden tiled patterns fill the interior volume of the church. It doesn’t seem to have that amazing of a spatial interior, however. The volumetric spatial characteristics seem to be low to the ground rather than stretched vertically. This could have been a result of it being built with rudimentary construction techniques; after all it was built during the Middle Ages when the technology from classical Rome had been lost and/or forgotten.

Sitting adjacent to San Marco, the primary religious structure for the heart of Venice, sits the Doge’s Palace, which is the main set of governmental power and bureaucracy. Acting similarly to Florence in that the two structures are some of the most visible in the city, the main square provides a glimpse into what were the main institutions during this time period. The Doge is specific only to a certain amount of republics in Italy, one of the main ones obviously being Venice. It was the seat of supreme authority, chief magistrate, and senior most elected official for Venice for over 1000 years, until the final one in 1797. The first palace burned down and was rebuilt in more of a fortress-like manner the second time with a portico and loggia. What we see today was constructed from 1309 to 1424 and represents influences from Gothic to Byzantine to Islamic (due to the fact it was built in stages). The ground floor arcaded colonnade exhibits Gothic arches that have some kind of stylized, mutated Corinthian capitals. The second story, open loggia has a lot of different things going on. First, it has a regularized rhythm of columns that makes quite an interesting pattern. Second, the tracery-like arches and quatrefoil punched openings above have definite Gothic influences as well. The two shapes make it seem as though they are blending into one another. I think one of the most beautiful aspects to the building is its brick patterning on the upper story (complete with more Gothic arched openings). It almost looks like some kind of pixelated pattern developed on a computer (to the modern eye) but of course was developed in this style regionally and with careful consideration to the placement of each and every brick. If this were a normal brick building, you wouldn’t care where each brick went. In this case, however, each brick had to be carefully chosen for its hue and placed in the right spot or the configuration and therefore overall effect would be lost.

I think regionally-influenced architecture features some of the most compelling buildings we have seen so far. Yes, I can appreciate the International Style that the Modernists were trying to achieve, as their designs were supposed to be portable and could theoretically be placed anywhere and still function. The same goes for the Classical style; it was to have these same features as well. However, when you get into the realm of Regionalism, some of the more daring, dynamic, and unique architecture starts to appear. Would Venice have looked the same had San Marco been another imitation of Florentine architecture, with its pink, green, and white geometric pattern façade? Or was it better for the city to have a church that took from a great many sources for inspiration? I say the latter. I want to see some of these older cities feature local architecture, something they can call their own and be proud of, not some generic (I mean this in the nicest way possible) structure that looks the same as the one down the road. The cathedral in Siena had to be the quintessential definition of Regionalism. That type of interior is found nowhere else in the world. The same can be said about bot the interior and exterior of San Marco. Even though they were influenced by other sources, the fact that they pulled from so many precedents is what makes that aesthetic unique. The churches that we saw in Luca just a few days ago were some of the more unique and interesting ones I have seen. This is not to say that they were the most beautiful or that I would want this style to spread to other parts of Europe, but to have a church that you can call yours with its own distinctive style is really what makes traveling across Europe fascinating; the endless variety of local architecture.