St Mark's Campanile, Carnival of Venice 2012, Venice, Veneto, Italy, Europe
St Mark's Campanile is the bell tower of
St Mark's Basilica in
Venice, Italy, located in the
Piazza San Marco. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city. The tower is
98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and stands alone in a corner of
St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. It has a simple form, the bulk of which is a fluted brick square shaft, 12 metres (39 ft) wide on each side and 50 metres (160 ft) tall, above which is a loggia surrounding the belfry, housing five bells. The belfry is topped by a cube, alternate faces of which show the
Lion of St. Mark and the female representation of
Venice (la Giustizia:
Justice). The tower is capped by a pyramidal spire, at the top of which sits a golden weathervane in the form of the archangel
Gabriel. The campanile reached its present form in 1514. The current tower was reconstructed in its present form in 1912 after the collapse of 1902. The initial
9th-century construction, initiated during the reign of
Pietro Tribuno and built on
Roman foundations, was used as a watch tower or lighthouse for the dock, which then occupied a substantial part of the area which is now the
Piazzetta.
Construction was finished in the twelfth century, during the reign of
Domenico Morosini. Adjoining the base of the campanile is the loggetta built by Sansovino, completed in 1549 and rebuilt in 1912 after it had been destroyed by the fall of the campanile. One of the models for the tower was the St. Mercuriale's
Campanile, in
Forlì. Seriously damaged by a fire in 1489 that destroyed the wooden spire,
the campanile assumed its definitive shape in the sixteenth century thanks to the restorations made to repair further damage caused by the earthquake of March 1511. These works, initiated by the architect
Giorgio Spavento, then executed under the direction of
Bartolomeo Bon of
Bergamo, added the belfry, realized in marble; the attic, on which was put the sculpture of the lion of
Saint Mark and Venice; and the spire, in gold leaf. The work was completed on 6 July 1513, with the placement of the gilded wooden statue of the
Archangel Gabriel in the course of a ceremony recorded by
Marin Sanudo. In the following centuries numerous other interventions were made to repair the damage caused by fires. In
1653,
Baldassarre Longhena took up the restorations. More work was done after a fire on April 13, 1745, which caused some of the masonry to crack, and killed several people as a result of falling stonework.
Finally, in
1776, the campanile was equipped with a lightning rod. In 1820, the statue of the angel was replaced with a new one by
Luigi Zandomeneghi. Each of the five bells of the campanile had a special purpose. The Renghiera (or the Maleficio) announced executions; the Mezza Terza proclaimed a session of the
Senate; the
Nona sounded midday; the Trottiera called the members of the
Maggior Consiglio to council meetings and the Marangona, the biggest, rang to mark the beginning and ending of working day. They are tuned in the scale of A. In July 1902, the north wall of the tower began to show signs of
a dangerous crack that in the following days continued to grow. Finally, on Monday, July 14, around 9:45 am, the campanile collapsed completely, also demolishing the logetta. Remarkably, no one was killed, except for the caretaker's cat. Because of the campanile's position, the resulting damage was relatively limited.
Apart from the logetta, only a corner of the
Biblioteca Marciana was destroyed. The pietra del bando, a large porphyry column from which laws used to be read, protected the basilica itself. The same evening, the communal council approved over
500,
000 Lire for the reconstruction of the campanile. It was decided to rebuild the tower exactly as it was, with some internal reinforcement to prevent future collapse.
Work lasted until March 6, 1912.
The new campanile was inaugurated on
April 25, 1912, on the occasion of Saint Mark's feast day, exactly
1000 years after the foundations of the original building had allegedly been laid. The Campanile is currently undergoing a major set of building works that are forecast to last a few years. Like many buildings in Venice, it is built on soft ground, supported by wooden piles. Due to years of winter flooding (
Acqua Alta), the subsoil has become saturated and the campanile has begun to subside and lean.
Evidence of this can be seen in the increasing number of cracks in the masonry. In order to stop the damage, a ring of titanium is being built underneath the foundations of the campanile. The titanium ring will protect the campanile from the shifting soil and ensure that the tower subsides equally and does not lean. It is still possible to climb the campanile during these works.