Mark's Tower (Venice)

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The Markus Tower

In Venice standing Campanile ( Italian Campanile di San Marco ), the Campanile (bell tower) of St. Mark's Basilica . Its height is 98.6 meters, making it the tallest building in Venice. Originally, its spire served as a lighthouse for ships .

The tower is a symbol of the city. Traditionally he was called in Venetian "El paron de casa" (the master of the house). Numerous towers in Veneto , Slovenia , Croatia and as far as Dalmatia , originally Venetian rulership , are built as quotes from Markus Tower and are thus widely visible signs of the rule of the Serenissima , the historical republic of Venice .

Elevation, section and floor plan (1831) before the collapse - the reconstruction is largely identical

History and design

The beginning of the tower construction is between 888 and 911 under the Doge Pietro Tribuno . The construction work was interrupted several times; the tower was completed under the Doge Tribuno Memmo (979-991), a burnt clay top was completed in 1152 under the Doge Domenico Morosini , mainly by the brothers Pietro and Giovanni Basilio. The top floor with the sound arcades still visible today was added in 1178 and redesigned again in 1329. The spire was added in 1510 and supplemented with a statue of the Archangel Gabriel in 1517 . The wooden sculpture is clad with gilded copper sheet.

A custom has been documented for Carnival Tuesday since 1548 , an acrobatic performance on a rope that was stretched down from the tower. This so-called "volo de angelo" (angel flight), originally "volo de turco" (Turkish flight after the first to perform this feat), is also on paintings, e.g. B. was arrested by Canaletto and Francesco Guardi .

The rubble of the Campanile on July 14, 1902

Earthquakes and lightning strikes caused repeated damage to the tower and made restoration work necessary. On July 14, 1902, around a quarter to ten o'clock, the tower collapsed after large cracks had formed in the masonry days beforehand, which were due to the fact that the metal anchors inside the tower had been removed in order to install a lift. The accident caused great consternation and sadness all over the world. The city council of Venice decided unanimously on the evening of the tower collapse to rebuild the campanile as and where it had been (com'era e dov'era) . The Viennese architect Otto Wagner said in an interview with the newspaper Il piccolo (Trieste) on July 17, 1902 that it would falsify the history of architecture if the campanile would be rebuilt in the old style, but he met with negative reactions.

When the tower collapsed, the back of the directly adjacent Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana was also badly damaged. The work to repair the damage went quickly, however, so that the library was reopened to the public in 1912.

The reconstruction of the tower began on April 25, 1903. On April 25, St. Mark's Day in 1912, the restored tower was ceremoniously inaugurated. The pile foundations proved to be very good after almost 1000 years, were completely petrified and were therefore only reinforced. However, this led to new problems that threatened to become acute almost 100 years later. In 2008, a start was made to secure the Markus Tower with a titanium enclosure. A staircase was built in place of the ramp leading upwards around the inside. Today the bell floor of the tower can be reached via an elevator against entry.

The brick fronts created on a square floor plan are decorated with pilaster strips .

Bells

The five bronze bells of the tallest tower in the city can be heard all over Venice, which is why they were originally not only used to call people to worship, but each had a specific function at the time of the Republic. The Renghiera or Maleficio announced an execution, the Nona rang out at noon, the Mezza Terza called the senators to the Doge's Palace and the Trottiera announced the imminent beginning of a session of the Grand Council . When the tower collapsed, only the largest bell, the Marangona , which was re-cast in 1819, remained undamaged. The marangona was rung at the beginning and end of a working day and the 1st call of a meeting of the Grand Council. The other bells were re-cast in Milan in 1909: Pope Pius X paid for them. The mood of the lowest and heaviest chimes in Venice corresponds to the A major scale. The individual bells hang in a steel bell cage on ornate wooden yokes distributed on the bell storey. The two largest bells (Marangona and Nona) are hung slightly cranked and the other three bells (Trottiera, Mezza Terza and Renghiera) are hung uncranked. The hangings of the clapper of the bells are reinforced by steel cables (this is a fall protection for the clapper so that they cannot be thrown from the tower after a break) and a metal rod, which was formerly used to ring the bell, is still attached to some bell yokes. Even today the five bells are rung regularly by an electric drive, mainly for liturgical purposes. The Nona rings in the morning at 7:00 a.m., at noon at 12:00 p.m. and at midnight at 0:00 a.m. The Marangona raise their voices at funerals. On weekdays the Renghiera and Mezza Terza bells ring at 2:00 p.m., Renghiera, Mezza Terza and Trottiera ring at 5:00 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., and the Trottiera bells solo at 8:00 p.m. This evening angel ring varies according to the season. The plenum, i.e. the ringing of all five bells, sounds on Saturday and the evening before a festival at 6:30 p.m., as well as on Sundays and holidays at 10:00 a.m., 11:00 a.m., 2:00 p.m., 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. : 30 o'clock. In the case of a ringing with several bells, the smallest bell usually starts and the other bells are then switched in ascending order according to their size, so that the bell with the lower pitch starts to ring. When ringing out, either the smallest or the largest bell can sound last.

No.
 		 Surname
 		 Nominal
(16th note)		 Special functions e.g. At the time of the republic
 		 Mass (kg)
 		 year
 		 Caster
 
1 Marangona a 0 1. Call for the meeting of the Grand Council, beginning and end of a working day 3625 1819 Canciano dalla Venezia
2 Nona / Mezzana h 0 at noon 2556 1909 Fratelli Barigozzi
3 Trottiera / Quarantìa cis 1 2. Call for the meeting of the Grand Council 1807
4th Mezza Terza / Pregadi d 1 Senators in the Doge's Palace 1366
5 Renghiera / Maleficio e 1 execution 1011

  • Marangona, Renghiera on the right

  • Pinging the Mezza Terza

  • Trottiera in front, Nona behind

West side of the Campanile, in the background the St. Mark's Basilica

The campanile was both the lighthouse and landmark of the lagoon city. Emperor Friedrich III. rode the stepless spiral staircase in 1452 on horseback to the belfry, as did Napoleon and Lord Byron . When looking out of the bell chamber, there is a fascinating view of the lagoon city and at the same time a curiosity: from there you can see a Venice without canals.

meaning

The Markus Tower influenced the design of some other towers. Many are in cities with a clear maritime character:

  • Kiel town hall tower

  • Tower of St. George's Cathedral in Piran (Slovenia)

  • The Venetian Towers in Barcelona (Spain)

  • Metropolitan Life Tower in New York

  • Sather Tower in Berkeley, California

  • The city hall tower of the first sector of Bucharest

  • The Venetian Resort in Las Vegas (Nevada)

literature

  • Rosolino Gattinoni: Storia del Campanile di San Marco in Venezia . 2nd Edition. Venezia 1912.
  • Comune di Venezia (ed.): Il Campanile di San Marco riedificato. 1912.
  • Il campanile di San Marco. Il crollo e le ricostruzione. 14 luglio 1902–25 aprile 1912. Exhibition catalog. Silvana Editoriale, Milan 1992, OCLC 312020794 .
  • Bruno Rosada (ed.): La caduta del Campanile di S.Marco 14 Iuglio 1902. Venezia 2002.

Web links

Commons : The Campanile of San Marco  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ There are many different, up to the minute details. The most reliable is probably the report that appeared the next day in the Gazzetta di Venezia . The reporter wrote u. a .: "... clock tower that had just struck half past seven. With a trembling heart I watched the proud, huge building [...] I have a clock with me - 9.47, seven or eight minutes have passed, everything around the campanile is empty [...] its facade towards the basilica gives way and breaks. "( Quote from Gerhard Tötschinger: "Only Venice is a little different" (Vienna 2002, p. 79).
  2. ↑ Peter Thomas: A corset for the bell tower of St. Markus. In: FAZ. April 11, 2009, p. T8.
  3. ↑ Chinese tourists flock to knock-off version of Venetian canals . In: Mail Online . ( dailymail.co.uk [accessed February 11, 2017]).
  4. ↑ 1453: 大连 现 山寨 版 “威尼斯 水城” 庞大 欧式 建筑 群 气势 恢宏 - 图片 频道 - 人民网. Retrieved February 11, 2017 (Chinese (China)).

Coordinates: 45 ° 26 ′ 2 ″  N , 12 ° 20 ′ 20 ″  E