Fluir nº1 - Renascimentos - 2018
Figure 2 - The Venice of today is
primarily a museum city and tourist
attraction
the absence of civil disturbances that plagued the other
Italian city states.
And there are more architectural features that are
distinctly Venetian. Many of its major buildings have a
Byzantine influence; the church of S. Marco (circa
1094) was designed and built by craftsmen from
Constantinople, modelled on their own Church of the
Holy Apostles (since razed by the Ottoman Turks).
Another Venetian peculiarity are the numerous small
squares with a (nowadays plugged) central well which
correspond to the original island settlements that were
later connected by landfill. The wells provided access to
central underground cisterns that collected rainwater as
underground water in the lagoon is too brackish.
Napoleon confiscated many of Venice's artistic
treasures and sent them to France. In earlier times, the
Venetian Republic had been guilty of such plundering
too; S. Marco is full of artworks from the sack of
Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade (1204), notably
the bronze horses and the porphyry statue of the
Tetrarchs. But such was the quality and quantity of
great Venetian artists that there is still plenty for visitors
to see. Familiar names reel off the tongue; painters such
as Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, architects such
as Palladio, and composers such as Monteverdi and
Vivaldi.
The system of government of the old Venetian
Republic is less world famous than its artists, but the
size of the Great Council chamber in the Ducal palace
provides the visitor with an intimation of difference; it
was designed to accommodate around 2000 members.
The Evolution of a Republic
Governments are created and change in response to the
ideologies, power elites and external circumstances.
Yet, in Europe, most states had a similar evolution;
from feudal to absolute monarchy for example. Initially
the Venetian government may not have been very
different from a typical medieval Italian city state. But
over time it diverged from the practice in the rest of
Europe. Many explanations have been proposed; the
equalitarian nature of the first inhabitants as alluded by
Cassiodorus, the absence of landed wealth (there was
little arable land in the lagoon), the anti-aristocratic
tendencies of a society of tradesman, etc.
The Byzantine empire was too weak to provide
leadership. The sovereign power in the early Venetian
Republic resided in the Arengo, the assembly of all the
adult males. As in the rest of Italy, the early Venetians
were an unruly lot and spent much time fighting each
other. In addition to electing, the Arengo ended up
deposing, exiling, blinding or murdering numerous
Doges.
The failed Frankish invasion of 810 triggered key
developments; the Venetians became more unified, the
first Ducal palace was built in the Rialto, the new site
for Venice, and Charlemagne agreed to allow Venice to
continue as part of the Byzantine empire. The grateful
emperor Leo IV sent money and craftsmen from
Constantinople to assist in building the new city. Venice
became the major commercial entrepot between
Byzantium and Europe. Money began to flow in as
Venice embarked on its vocation as a country of sailors,
businessmen and bankers.
With wealth and peace came power, and the Dogeship
became an attractive prize. The urge to bequeath your
position to your heirs seems almost as strong as the will
to power itself; an innate passion as strong today as at
the dawn of civilization. Unsurprisingly, and similarly to
other medieval republics, many of the Doges of Venice
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