Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/610

 Si8 Outlines of Eiiropean History Venice ex- tends her sway on the mainland mainland. She doubtless believed it dangerous to permit her rival, Milan, to get possession of the Alpine passes through which her goods found their way north. It may be, too, that she Fig. 192. St. Mark's and the Doge's Palace in Venice One sees the fa9ade of St. Mark's to the left, and that of the doge's palace beyond. The church, modeled after one in Constantinople, was planned before the First Crusade and is adorned with numerous colored marble columns and slabs brought from the East. The interior is covered with mosaics, some of which go back to the twelfth and the thirteenth century. The fa9ade is also adorned with brilliant mosaics. St. Mark's " is unique among the buildings of the world in respect to its unparalleled richness of material and decoration." The doge's palace contained the government offices and the magnificent halls in which the senate and Council of Ten met. The palace was begun about 1300, and the fa9ade we see in the picture was commenced about a hundred years later. It shows the influence of the Gothic style, which penetrated into northern Italy preferred to draw her food supplies from the neighborhood in- stead of transporting them across the Adriatic from her eastern possessions. Moreover, all the Italian cities except Venice al- ready controlled a larger or smaller area of country about them.