“Considered as the principal representation of the Venetian school of architecture, the Ducal Palace is the Parthenon of Venice.”
John Ruskin
“In the year of the death of Charlemagne, 813, the Venetians determined to make the island of Rialto the seat of the government and capital of their state. Their Doge, Angelo or Agnello Participazio, instantly took vigorous means for the enlargement of the small group of buildings which were to be the nucleus of the future Venice. He appointed persons to superintend the raising of the banks of sand, so as to form more secure foundations, and to build wooden bridges over the canals. For the offices of religion, he built the Church of St. Mark; and on, or near, the spot where the Ducal Palace now stands, he built a palace for the administration of the government.”
Artist’s rendering of the Byzantine palace of Doge Pietro Orseolo II circa 991 AD.
“…in around 1060 the definitive form of the new [St. Mark’s Church] was begun, and the basic structure of this Church is what survives today. …It was separated from the castle by a narrow canal…which joined the Rio di Palazzo so that the castle was surrounded by a natural ‘moat’ on all four sides.”
When Doge Ziani rebuilt the palace ca. 1172, the upper left tower became a transitional structure between the palace and St. Mark’s (later the Treasury of St. Mark’s). The upper right tower disappeared completely, and the canal on the left was filled in to create the Piazzetta, fundamentally altering the character of the palace.
“Doge Ziani’s works at the [Doge’s Palace] were ... revolutionary and can be characterized as the transformation of what was still a rather random collection of fortified structures…into a palace, that is, their residual defense functions were removed, and the buildings, now rationalized into three wings, were redesigned in much the same manner as the contemporary private palaces along the Grand Canal, with spacious ground floor colonnades and the principal accommodation on the first floor. The building on the waterfront was to contain the meeting halls for the nobility, chiefly that of the newly-defined Maggior Consiglio [Great Council], while the wing facing the west was to contain the Palace of Justice; to the east, along the Rio di Palazzo, were the ducal apartments and other facilities, including prisons and stables.”
The gothic palace in full flower ca. 1340.
“In the first year, therefore, of the fourteenth century, the Gothic Ducal Palace of Venice was begun; and as the Byzantine Palace was, in its foundation, coeval with that of the state, so the Gothic Palace was, in its foundation, coeval with that of the aristocratic power. ”
The Great Council Chamber’s large glass windows overlook St. Mark’s basin.
