La Gazelle | Page 137

voyage dans le temps I journey through time I ‫رحلـة عبـر الزمـن‬ évasion fly away ّ ‫لنتحـلق‬ Venice, Serenissima Make no mistake, this crowd of tourists that drags you through the winding streets of Venice are the new saviors of the city. With 60 million visitors a year, the city renovates, restores, transforms, shapes in order to perpetuate the past and to show its modernity, its contemporary art in particular. t o see and to understand the history of the city, with the filters, the representations of our thoughts and of our modern approach is difficult and fascinating. Brutally encounter a creation, a work of art, a modern exhibition, that is the real surprise in Venice. In this city we visit churches and pray in museums. SAINT MARK’S SQUARE Artist-architect Mauro Codussi was commissioned, in 1496, to take care of the monumental organization of the place. All the powers of the Serenissima Republic had to be concentrated in one place, near the ducal palace, in order to facilitate the management of the State’s interests : political, religious, social, judiciary, economic and financial powers. At this centre of public life, we see processions, games, fireworks and other great celebrations. In Venice, maybe more than anywhere else, it is essential to know the city’s history. In order to understand it, to listen to it, to entirely admire it, one needs to know that for several centuries the Venitians and their leaders have put all their efforts, their tenacity, their know-how in the creation of effective institutions and in the production of m v