Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 10.djvu/223

LEFT VENICE 18i VENICE, GULF OF dral of St. Marco, forming three sides of a square, the grandest and most im- posing quarter of all the city. The square of St. Mark — ^with its arcades, its fine and elegant shops and caf^s, the vast grandeur of its ducal residence con- taining all the chambers of state, audi- ence, and judicature, and its magnifi- cent cathedral — presents a picture of grandeur and beauty unequaled by any capital in Europe. The Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri) stretches across the canal called the Rio Palazzo, and com- municates between prisons on the E., and the Doge's palace on the W. bank of the canal. It is a covered gallery; and prisoners, when led to execution, passed from their cells across this gal- lery to the palace, to hear sentence of death passed upon them, and then were conducted to the scene of death between the red columns. Few cities in Italy are richer in works of pictorial art than Venice; some of the masterpieces of Titian, Tintoretto, Paul Veronese, and the other great chiefs of the Venetian school, are to be found in all the churches of this extraor- dinary city. The library (a fine mar- ble structure, containing 120,000 vol- umes and 10,000 MSS.), the museum, and cabinet of curiosities of St. Mark's are regarded as the finest in Europe. The arsenal and dockyard are esteemed as worthy objects of attraction; the latter, in the paimy days of Venice, con- tained 40 line-of-battle ships, 12 of them three-deckers, with arms for 150,- 000 men, 4,000 pieces of ordnance, and an immense amount of naval and mili- tary store, with provision and every requisite to maintain its reputation as one of the first commercial and mari- time states in the world. For many centuries, in the Middle Ages, Venice had the monopoly of all the glass sold to Europe; but this has long_ since passed away, and its chief trade is now confined to the manufacture of mirrors, jewelry, artificial pearls, silks, velvets, and porcelain. The foundation of Venice was laid in 421, as a place of refuge during the invasion of Italy by Attila. In 697 took place the establishment of an elec- tive prince or Doge, with the appella- tion of Serene Highness — Paoluccio Anafesto being the first Doge or Duke of Venice. At first tho power of the Doge was absolute, but in time _ restric- tions were placed on his rule, till even- tually he became a mere cipher and symbol of authority in the hands of the famous Council of Ten. The prosperity and power of Venice began with the dawn of the 9th century. In 1133, the Doge Sebastino received from Pope Alexander III. the title of Sovereign of the Adriatic, in consequence of a signal victory gained by the Venetian galleys over the fleet of the emperor, when, further to mark his joy at the victory, the Pope flung into the gulf a ring of great cost, as a mark of gratitude — a custom afterward annually followed by the Doges, who, in great state, dropped a rich rine: into the sea; this ceremony was called espousing or wedding the Adriatic. In the reign of Giovanni, in 1620, gold was first coined in Venice, the coin from the ducal dignity of the prince being called a ducat. Venice at this time was at the height of its glory as the first maritime and commercial state in Europe, as the most prosperous of nations, and as a leading military and political power. Jealous of the ris- ing influence of the republic of Genoa, already encroaching on the commerce of the East, which Venice considered as her exclusive monopoly, she for more than a century carried on a harrassing war with her rival, sometimes with serious loss, at others with advantage. In 1396 Genoa placed herself under the dominion of the King of France, and therefore ceased to have a separate existence as an enemy of the republic. The greatest part of the 15th century was passed in repeated wars with the Turks, who captured many of her Greek and Ionian islands, especially Cyprus, and large portions of Dalmatia. When the commerce of Venice became anni- hilated by the discovery of the route to India by the Cape, petty quarrels and political jealousies occupied the Vene- tians, instead of commerce and domin- ion. From this time the prestige of Venice declined, and her power grad- ually sank as a state till, on the occu- pation of Italy by the armies of the French Republic, Venice — after an in- dependent existence of 1,300 years — without striking a blow became a part of Napoleon's Cisalpine republic, and afterward of the Italian kingdom. At the Congress of Vienna, 1815, Venice was annexed to Austria. The city and territory were ceded to and incor- porated with the kingdom of Italy in 1866. During the World War Venice was re- peatedly bombed by hostile airplanes, and measures were taken to prevent its treasures from destruction. Pop. about 150,000. VENICE, GULF OF, an arm of the Adriatic Sea, on the N. E. coast of Italy, bounded by the Brenta and the Piave,