Venice: The Meeting of East and West - The Wise World Traveler: Becoming a Part of All that You Meet - page 91

eenth century. Today the area is avoided by the superstitious. In the distant north side of the
piazza is a clock tower with three distinctive facades. One frames a clock, while another
displays the winged lion. High atop the building is a huge bell flanked by two bronze fig-
ures (Moors), whose hammers strike the bell every hour of the day.
Of the several buildings that frame the square, two are on every traveler's list: the
Basilica and the Doge's Palace. Vast and overpowering, the Basilica is crowned with five
huge domes. It is built on a Byzantine Greek-cross plan. Framing the central doorway is an
arch whose intricate carvings celebrate the Labors of the Month. Above the central door-
way is a still larger arch, and in front of that arch over the central doorway are the famous
four bronze horses. Stolen from Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the domes, the
facade, and the horses display Venice's early allegiance to Byzantium as well as the city's
place as meeting ground between the East and the West. These two themes, sometime vas-
sal of Byzantium and longtime crossroads of East and West, are carried into the church's
interior, most notably in its 40,000 square feet of softly gleaming, golden mosaics.
The Doge's (Ducal) Palace is the unforgettable secular building of Venice, the place
that encapsulates the wealth and power of the Serene Republic. Until the end of the Repub-
lic in 1797, the palace was the residence of the doge , the meeting hall of the legislature,
the central office of administration, and the archive of the Republic. The building's exter-
ior is immediately identifiable, like nothing else in the world. The west facade, fronting
the piazzetta , has eighteen bays surmounted by thirty-six loggia arches, topped by an upper
wall with six arched windows and a central door. The upper wall, patterned with lozenges
of pink and white marble, seems more tapestry than stone. The loggia is framed and punc-
tuated by lancet openings surmounted by large encircled quatrefoils. The encircled quatre-
foils are supported by more than three dozen columns. The quatrefoils meet and blend to
create delicate Gothic arches that are the signature of the facade.
The palace is adorned with statues, ceremonial staircases, courtyards, marble columns,
and vast interior rooms. The Sala del Maggior Consiglio is almost 180 feet in length and,
like other rooms in the palace, is sumptuously decorated. This particular room, with its
ornate ceilings, is also adorned with paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese. Even among
today's throngs of visitors, it is easy to imagine diplomats presenting their credentials here
and, as was intended, being overawed by the sumptuous beauty of their surroundings.
IS VENICE DYING?
Like an aging diva who gives a series of farewell tours, Venice has been saying farewell to
the world for a very long time. This much is true: Venice has been losing population every
year at the rate of 1,500 a year. Today a scant 50,000 make Venice home, a huge drop from
its golden age when Venice had about 200,000 inhabitants.