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Who was the Doge of Venice?
Venice needed a strong government, so the people imposed a
system like no other. The Doge, or Duke of Venice,
ruled the city for over a 1,000 years and while other great
European leaders hid themselves away in Medieval fortresses,
the Venetians were busy building a symbol of confidence to
show the world that they were impregnable to attack. The Doge
would enter the palace, walking between the statues of Neptune
and Mars, and stand at the top of the stairs by the
God of the Sea and God of the War. Today, lesser
mortals have to use the tradesman's entrance to the right
of the palace, which is still lined with gold!
The Doge was elected for life but he could not indulge in
private business, receive foreign ambassadors alone, leave
Venice without permission, accept personal gifts and his descendents
could not inherit anything. The aim was to stop the power
falling into the hands of one dynasty. The Doge's private
life was entirely at the service of La Serenissima
(the state) and everywhere you look this is depicted in the
artwork around the palace. Venice is depicted as a beautiful
woman and in painting after painting she appears with Christ
himself. In one painting, the Doge is deified in a picture
with the Madonna, foretelling what Venice will become - proud
and arrogant.
History of Doge's Palace
The Doge's Palace is a bona fide ornate palace where
the real aristocrats of Venice lived in splendour and co-ordinated
the conquest of an empire. Built in the fourteenth century,
the palace is a wonderful mix of Gothic and Classical,
East meets West, in a marriage of styles that came to define
the architecture of Venice.
Doge's Palace witnessed denunciations, elections,
executions, intrigue, and inquisitions. It was the equivalent
of London's Downing Street, Parliament, Buckingham Palace,
and the Tower of London all rolled into one. From here the
Venetian aristocracy co-ordinated the conquest of an empire,
held out against a European coalition, confronted the Pope,
made war against the Turks, legislated, administrated justice,
survived through a combination of shrewdness and wisdom and
finally, in May 1797, abdicated.
Things to see and do in
Doges Palace
Bocca di Leone
In the fourteenth century the Council of Ten was
formed, an extensive network of spies whose job it was to
track down any subversives in the Republic. The Bocca di
Leone - a box in the shape of a lion's mouth - was where
you could come and secretly denounce your friends and neighbours.
Grand Chamber Council
This is the largest room in the palace. It had to big as by
1512 an estimated 2,622 noblemen were entitled to sit on the
Maggior Consiglio. Like the Vatican's famous balcony
in Rome, it was from this room that the newly elected Doge
would be presented to the throngs in the Piazzetta square
below. On the giant eastern wall you will see Tintoretto's
Paradise -the largest oil painting in the world (22 metres
by seven metres). It is a vision of paradise that the Venetian
government could match the divine order.
Bridge of Sighs
This bridge, linking the palace's east side to the Prigioni
Nuove (New Prisons), earned its name from the sighs of
the prisoners being led to their fate - torture, a lengthy
incarceration or even execution according to the perhaps somewhat
romanticised memoirs of one of the prison's former inhabitants
- Casanova.
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