Page:EB1911 - Volume 27.djvu/1029

Rh original donation, and in a letter dated from' the baths of Viterbo, May 13th, 1468, he made over his library to the republic. The principal treasures of the collection, including] splendid Byzantine book-covers, the priceless codices of Homer, the Grimani Breviary, an early Dante, &c., are exhibited under cases in the Sala Bessarione in the Zecca or mint where the library has been installed. Another library was left to the public by the munificence of Count Quirini-Stampalia, who bequeathed his collections and his house at Santa Maria Formosa to be held in trust for students. The state archives are housed in the Franciscan monastery at the Frari. They contain the voluminous and invaluable records of the Venetian republic, diplomatic, judicial, commercial, notarial, &c. Under the republic the various departments of state stored their records in various buildings, at the ducal palace, at the Scuola di San Teodoro, at the Camerlenghi. The Austrian government gathered all these into one building and arranged the vast masses of papers in fairly convenient order. Though the state papers of Venice have suffered from fire and the series begins comparatively late, yet their fullness and the world-wide sweep of Venetian interests render this collection an inexhaustible storehouse of data for students. Among other learned institutions we may mention the Ateneo Veneto, the Deputazione per la Storia Patria, and the Royal Institute of Science, Letters and Art, which has its seat in the Palazzo Loredan at Santo Stefano.

Harbour.—Under the republic commercial shipping used to enter Venice by the port of San Nicolo del Lido and lie along the quay called the Riva degli Schiavoni, in the basin of San Marco, and up the broad Giudecca Canal. But with the decline of Venice the trade of the port fell off; the mouth of the Lido entrance became gradually silted up owing to the joint action of the tide and the current, and for many years complete stagnation characterized the port. Under Austrian rule a revival began, which has been continued and intensified since Venice became part of united Italy. When the railway bridge brought Venice into touch with the mainland and the rest of Europe, it became necessary to do something to reopen the harbour to larger shipping. The Austrians, abandoning the nearer Lido entrance to the lagoons, resolved to deepen and keep open the Malamocco entrance. This is 8 m. distant from Venice, and can only be reached by a long and tortuous channel across the lagoon, whose course is marked out by those groups of piles which are so characteristic a feature 'of the lagoon landscape. The channel required constant dredging and was altogether inconvenient; yet for many years it remained the main sea approach to Venice. A dock was constructed at the western or fart er end of the Giudecca Canal, near the railway. The unification of Italy, the growing prosperity of the country, above all the opening of the Suez Canal, which restored to Venice the full value of her position as the port farthest into the heart of Europe, brought about an immense expansion of trade. The government accordingly resolved to reopen the Lido entrance to the lagoon, and thus to afford a shorter and more commodious access from the sea. As at the Malamocco entrance so at the Lido, two moles were run out in a south-westerly direction; the westerly is about 2 m., the easterly about 3 m. in length. The natural scour thus created has given a depth of 26 ft. of water through the sand-bank. The mean rise and fall of the tide is about 2 ft., but under certain conditions of wind the variation amounts to 5, ft. and over. The health of the city depends, of course, to a large extent on this ebb and flow. The government also turned its attention to the inadequate accommodation at the docks, and proposals for a new quay on the western side of the present basin, and for a second basin 900 yds. long and 170 yds. wide, were the result.

Trade.—A comparison between the exports and imports of the years 1886 and 1905 will give an exact idea of the rate at which the port of Venice developed. In 1886 the total value of exports to foreign countries amounted to £7,239,479; of imports, £8,788,012. In 1905 the exports to foreign countries valued £11,650,932, the imports £13,659,306. As has been the case throughout her history, the trade of Venice is still mainly a transit trade. Wheat, coal, cotton, petroleum, wood, lime and cement are brought into Venice for shipment to the Levant or for distribution over Italy and Europe.

Venice became very celebrated in the 15th century for textiles. Its damasks and other silk stuffs with patterns of extraordinary beauty surpassed in variety and splendour those of the other chief centres of silk-weaving, such as Florence and Genoa. In addition to the native stuffs, an immense quantity of costly Oriental carpets, wall-hangings and other textiles was imported into Venice, partly for its own use, and partly for export throughout western Europe. On occasions of festivals or pageants the balconies, the bridges, the boats, and even the facades of the houses, were hung with rich Eastern carpets or patterned textiles in gold and coloured silk. The glass manufactory of Murano (q.v.), a small island about 1½ m. to the north of Venice, was a great source of revenue to the republic. Glass drinking cups and ornamental vessels, some decorate with enamel painting, and "silvered" mirrors were produced in great quantities from the 14th century downwards, and exported. Like many other arts in Venice, that of glass-making appears to have been imported from Moslem countries, and the influence of Oriental design can be traced in much of the Venetian glass. The art of making stained glass windows was not practised by the Venetians; almost the only fine glass in Venice is that in a south transept window in the Dominican church, which, though designed by able Venetian painters, is obviously the work of foreigners.

The ancient glass-bead industry (conterie), which some years since suffered severely from over-production, has now regained its position through the union of the different factories, by which the output is controlled in such a way as to render trade profitable. Venetian beads are now sent in large quantities to the various colonies in Africa, and to India, Sumatra and Borneo. Similarly, the glass industry has revived. New amalgams and methods of colouring have been discovered, and fresh forms have been diligently studied. Special progress has.been made in the production of mirrors, electric lamps, candelabra and mosaics. New industries are those of tapestry, brocades, imitation of ancient stuffs, cloth of silver and gold, and Venetian laces. The secret of lace-making was believed to have been lost, but the late Signor Fambri discovered at Chioggia an old woman who knew it, and placed her at the head of a lace school. Fambri was ruined by his enterprise, but other manufacturers, more expert than he, drew profit from his initiative, and founded flourishing factories at Pellestrina and Burano. Other important industries are wood-carving (of an artistic excellence long unknown), artistic iron-working, jewelling, bronze-casting, the production of steam-engines, machinery, matches (largely exported to Turkey, Egypt, Russia., 'Austria-Hungary and Greece), clock-making, wool-weaving and the manufacture of chemical manures.

Population.—In 1548 the population of Venice numbered 158,069; in 1607-29, 142,804; in 1706, 140,256; in 1785, 139,095; in 1881, 132,826. The municipal bulletin of the 31st of December 1906 gives a total of 169,563, not including 4835 soldiers.

Administration.—Venice is administered by a prefect representing the crown and responsible to the central government at Rome, from whom he receives orders. Under his cognizance come questions of public order, health and elections to parliament. The two arms of the police, the Carabinieri and the Publica. Sicurezza, are at his disposal. Purely local matters, however, are in the hands of the municipio or town council. At the head of the town council is the Sindaco or mayor, elected by the council itself.

Under the republic, and until modern times, the water supply of Venice was furnished by the storage of rain-water supplemented by water brought from the Brenta in boats. The famous Venetian pozzi, or wells for storing rain-water from the roofs and streets, consisted of a closed basin with a water-tight stratum of clay at the bottom, upon which a slab of stone was laid; a brick shaft of radiating bricks laid in a permeable jointing material of clay and sand was then built. At some distance from the shaft a square water-tight, wall was built, and the space between it and the shaft was filled in with sand, which was purified of all saline matter by repeated washings; on the ground-level perforated stones set at the four corners of the basin admitted the rain-water, which was discharged from the roofs by lead pipes; this water filtered through the sand and percolated into the shaft of the well, whence it was drawn in copper buckets. The present water supply, introduced in 1884, is brought from the commune of Trebaseleghe, where it is collected from 120 artesian wells. It is carried under the lagoon to Sant' Andrea, where the reservoirs are placed.

Of the 19,000 houses in Venice only 6000 have drains and sinks, all the others discharge sewage through pipes directly or indirectly into the canals. With the rise and fall of the tide the discharge, pipes are flushed at the bottom. An important investigation undertaken by the Bacterioscopical Laboratory, with regard to the pollution of the Venetian canals by the city sewage, led to the discovery that the water of the lagoons possesses auto-purifying power, not only in the large canals but even in the smallest ramifications of the waterways. The investigation was carried out with scrupulous scientific rigour upon samples of water taken in every part of the city, at all states of the tide and under various atmospheric conditions.

The church is ruled by the patriarch of Venice, the metropolitan of the province formed by the Veneto. The patriarch of Venice is usually raised to the purple. The patriarchate dates from 1451, when on the death of Domenico Michiel, patriarch of Grado, the seat of that honour was transferred from desolate and insalubrious Grado to the cathedral church of Castello in Venice, and Michiel's successor, Lorenzo Giustinian, assumed the title of patriarch .of Venice. On the fall of the republic St Mark's became the cathedral church' of the patriarch. There are thirty parishes in the city of Venice and fifteen in the lagoon islands and on the littoral.

In recent times there has been a good deal of activity in Venice in regard to the preservation of its artistic and architectural treasures. Some of the earlier activity was unfortunately misplaced. St Mark's suffered on two occasions: first during the restoration of the north facade in 1843, and again during that of the south facade,