Description
The Doge's Palace was for centuries the center of Venetian power: the residence of the doge and the seat of the government and the courts, on the waterfront next to St Mark's Basilica. It is a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic, and today a great museum.
Outside, one paradox stands out: the heavy body, in inlaid marble, sits on top of two levels of colonnades that look slender. Venice simply called it “the Palace”: the other noble residences were “ca'”, that is, houses.
You enter through the Porta della Carta, in flamboyant Gothic, where Doge Francesco Foscari kneels before the lion of St Mark. In the inner courtyard the Giants' Staircase, with Sansovino's statues of Mars and Neptune, was where the doges were crowned.
Higher up, the Golden Staircase is a vault of white stucco and gold leaf. It leads to the rooms of power: the Collegio, the Senate, the Council of Ten, with ceilings painted by Veronese and Tintoretto.
The Hall of the Great Council is more than 53 meters long and has not a single column. At the far end, behind the throne, Tintoretto and his son Domenico painted the Paradise, a canvas of 24.5 by 7.6 meters. On the ceiling, thirty-five paintings tell of the glories of the Republic.
Beneath the ceiling runs the frieze with the portraits of the doges. One is missing: in place of Marin Faliero, the doge who attempted a coup in 1355 and was beheaded, there is a black drape. For Venice the Republic came before its head.
On the route you will also find the prisons, linked to the palace by the Bridge of Sighs. The Wells, below the water level, were damp and unhealthy. The Leads, under the roof, held the special prisoners: from here Giacomo Casanova managed to escape.
The first palace was a castle, and it was rebuilt several times after fires. The blaze of 1577 was the worst: it destroyed many works of art, and it fell to the painters to repaint the halls. That is why the portraits of the doges are mostly imaginary: the originals burned.
The facade facing the Piazzetta was built from 1424 at the wish of Doge Francesco Foscari. On the upper level, in the loggia, two columns of red Verona marble marked the spot from which death sentences were read, and these were then carried out between the columns of St Mark and St Theodore.
Don't miss
• The Giants' Staircase.
• The Golden Staircase.
• The Hall of the Great Council.
• The prisons and the Bridge of Sighs.
Did you know?
• Into the “lions' mouths” on the walls people slipped denunciations of crimes and embezzlement.
• After the fall of the Republic the palace became a museum.
Outside, one paradox stands out: the heavy body, in inlaid marble, sits on top of two levels of colonnades that look slender. Venice simply called it “the Palace”: the other noble residences were “ca'”, that is, houses.
You enter through the Porta della Carta, in flamboyant Gothic, where Doge Francesco Foscari kneels before the lion of St Mark. In the inner courtyard the Giants' Staircase, with Sansovino's statues of Mars and Neptune, was where the doges were crowned.
Higher up, the Golden Staircase is a vault of white stucco and gold leaf. It leads to the rooms of power: the Collegio, the Senate, the Council of Ten, with ceilings painted by Veronese and Tintoretto.
The Hall of the Great Council is more than 53 meters long and has not a single column. At the far end, behind the throne, Tintoretto and his son Domenico painted the Paradise, a canvas of 24.5 by 7.6 meters. On the ceiling, thirty-five paintings tell of the glories of the Republic.
Beneath the ceiling runs the frieze with the portraits of the doges. One is missing: in place of Marin Faliero, the doge who attempted a coup in 1355 and was beheaded, there is a black drape. For Venice the Republic came before its head.
On the route you will also find the prisons, linked to the palace by the Bridge of Sighs. The Wells, below the water level, were damp and unhealthy. The Leads, under the roof, held the special prisoners: from here Giacomo Casanova managed to escape.
The first palace was a castle, and it was rebuilt several times after fires. The blaze of 1577 was the worst: it destroyed many works of art, and it fell to the painters to repaint the halls. That is why the portraits of the doges are mostly imaginary: the originals burned.
The facade facing the Piazzetta was built from 1424 at the wish of Doge Francesco Foscari. On the upper level, in the loggia, two columns of red Verona marble marked the spot from which death sentences were read, and these were then carried out between the columns of St Mark and St Theodore.
Don't miss
• The Giants' Staircase.
• The Golden Staircase.
• The Hall of the Great Council.
• The prisons and the Bridge of Sighs.
Did you know?
• Into the “lions' mouths” on the walls people slipped denunciations of crimes and embezzlement.
• After the fall of the Republic the palace became a museum.