About The Squares Of Venice

Piazzetta

Piazzetta (Small square) connects the breakwater with the square of St. Mark. Before XVI century there was a market of different products of feeding, also mortal executions were performed. Two big monolithic columns of the red granite tower on Piazzetta: on the first there is an installed statue of the St. Fedor (on - italian Teodor was one of the first protectors of the city), on the other - very ancient statue of winged lion - a symbol St. Mark of unknown origin. On the left, if you stand back to the breakwater, inheres a Library of St. Mark or Sansovinovaia, built in the second half of XVI century by architect Iacopo Sansovino and intended for keeping the collections of books, presented the city by the cardinal Bessarione (greek humanist , XV century). Presently there placed the National library of St. Mark and the richest Archeological museum of greek and roman sculpture. On the right side of Piazzetta Palazzo Ducale (the Palace of Doges) towers.

St.Mark's Square

In the antiquity the square was presented by a broad space, there were a lot of grass, divided by the channel, ashore of which there were two churches - of St. Fedor and St. Djiminiano. Later, after repeated reconstructions, the square became a public and religious centre of the city and one of the most beautiful squares of the world, with elegant shops, tables on the air and small orchestras of the famous cafe. The covering of the square saved to our days, decorated with white strips, made in XVIII century. The Square is encircled by buildings of Old and New Procuratures, as well as Napoleon wing (the beginning of XIX century), opposite which a cathedral of St. Mark towers. Old Procuratures, as well as new, were built for the procurators of St. Mark on the border of XV-XVI centuries. The building of New Procuratures (nowadays there is a museum Correr) was begun by the architect Skamocci at the end of XVI century and finished by Longena in 1640. The Bell tower and Hour tower continue an architectural ensemble of the square, on the roof of which there is a sculptural group: two «moors» knock on the bell by hammers.