NOVAK 8.  VENETIAN NOCTURNE:  Venice, Ital. Venezia, city (1991 pop. 309,422), capital of Venetia and of Venice prov., NE Italy, built on 118 alluvial islets within a lagoon in the Gulf of Venice (an arm of the Adriatic Sea). The city is connected with the mainland, 2.5 mi (4 km) away, by a rail and highway bridge. Between the islands run about 150 canals, mostly very narrow, crossed by some 400 bridges. The Grand Canal, shaped like a reversed letter S, is the main traffic artery; its chief bridge is the Rialto, named after the island that was the historical nucleus of Venice. Gondolas, the traditional means of transport, have been superseded by small river boats (vaporetti), but there are numerous lanes (calles), public squares, and a few streets. Houses are built on piles. Venice is a tourist, commercial, and industrial center. The tourist trade is stimulated by many annual festivals, including ones devoted to painting, motion pictures, drama, and contemporary music. The Venice Biennale, which exhibits various kinds of modern art every other year, has been held there since 1895. Manufactures include lace, jewelry, flour, and Murano glass, and the city is a center for shipbuilding. Porto Marghera, the modern port of Venice (founded in the 1920s), located on the mainland, is a major shipping facility and also has considerable industry   
 The center of animation in Venice is St. Mark’s Square and the Piazzetta, which leads from the square to the sea. On the square are St. Mark’s Church; the Gothic Doges’ Palace (14th–15th cent.), from which the Bridge of Sighs (c.1600) leads to the former prisons; the Old and New Law Courts (16th–17th cent.); the campanile (325 ft/99 m high; built in the 10th cent.; rebuilt after it collapsed in 1902); the Moors’ Clocktower (late 15th cent.); the elegant Old Library (1553); St. Moses’ Church; and the twin columns supporting the statues of St. Theodore stepping on a crocodile and of a winged lion of St. Mark (the emblem of Venice). On an island facing the Piazzetta is the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore (1566–1610) and on a nearby tip of land is the Church of Santa Maria della Salute (17th cent.). Among the city’s numerous other points of interest are the churches of Santa Maria Gloriosa del Frari (with paintings by Titian), San Zanipolo (1234–1430), and San Zaccaria (with a Madonna by Bellini); the Academy of Fine Arts, with fine paintings by Bellini, Carpaccio, Mantegna, Giorgione, Veronese, and others; the Scuola di San Rocco, with a series of paintings by Tintoretto; the Scuola degli Schiavoni, with paintings by Carpaccio; and the palaces Ca’ d’Oro (1440; late Gothic), Rezzonico (1680), and Pesaro (1710; baroque). The fashionable beach resort of Lido di Venezia is on a nearby island.   Founding and Rise of Venice:  With Istria, Venice formed a province of the Roman Empire. In the 6th cent. refugees fleeing the Lombard invaders of N Italy sought safety on the largely uninhabited islands. The communities organized themselves (697) under a doge [Lat. dux=leader]. Favorably situated for handling seaborne trade between East and West, the communities grew, and by the 9th cent. they had formed the city of Venice. The city secured (10th cent.) most of the coast of Dalmatia, thus gaining control of the Adriatic, and began to build up its eastern empire, obtaining trade and other privileges in the ports of the eastern Mediterranean. The influence of the Middle East, particularly Byzantium, which characterizes much Venetian art and architecture, is most clearly expressed in Saint Mark’s Church (rebuilt 1063–73), located on the city’s principal square. In 1204 the doge, Enrico Dandolo led the host of the Fourth Crusade in storming Constantinople. Strategic points in the Ionian, the Aegean, and the E Mediterranean were taken, notably Crete (1216). The great traveler Marco Polo represented the enterprising spirit of Venice in the 13th and 14th cent. After defeating (1380) its rival Genoa in the War of Chioggia, Venice was indisputably the leading European sea power; its sea consciousness was expressed in the symbolic marriage ceremony of the doges with the Adriatic, celebrated with great pomp on the huge gilded gondola, the Bucentaur. All citizens shared in the prosperity, but the patrician merchants obtained political privileges. Membership in the great council, which by then had replaced the general citizenry as an electorate in the election of the doges, became restricted to an oligarchy. In reaction to an unsuccessful conspiracy in 1310, the Council of Ten was instituted to punish crimes against the state. The Ten, by means of a formidable secret police, acquired increasing power, and the doge became a figurehead. In the 15th cent. Venice, known as the “queen of the seas,” reached the height of its power. The city engaged in a rich trade, especially as the main link between Europe and Asia; all Venetia on the mainland was conquered; and Venetian ambassadors, creators of the modern diplomatic service, made the power of the city felt at every court of the known world. The arsenal (founded 1104; rebuilt in the 15th and 16th cent.), where ships were built, was one of the world’s wonders. 
The decline of Venice can be dated from the fall (1453) of Constantinople to the Turks, which greatly reduced trade with the Levant, or from the discovery of America and of the Cape of Good Hope route to Asia, which transferred commercial power to Spain and other nations to the west of Italy. The effects were not felt immediately, however, and Venice continued its proud and lavish ways. In the Italian Wars, it challenged both the emperor and the pope; the League of Cambrai, formed (1508) by Pope Julius II to humble Venice, merely resulted in a few minor losses of the city’s territory; the naval victory of Lepanto (1571) gave Venice renewed standing by undoing Turkish sea power.  
The Renaissance marked the height of Venice’s artistic glory. Architects like the Lombardo family, Jacopo Sansovino, and Palladio, and the Venetian school of painting, which besides its giants—Titian and Tintoretto—also included Giovanni Bellini, Jacopo Palma (Palma Vecchio), and Veronese, gave Venice its present aspect of a city of churches and palaces, floating on water, blazing with colour and light, and filled with art treasures. Freedom of expression was complete except to those who actively engaged in politics; the satirist Aretino, the “scourge of princes,” chose Venice as his place of residence, and John of Speyer, Nicolas Jenson, and Aldus Manutius made the city a center of printing. The fall of Cyprus (1571), Crete (1669), and the Peloponnesus (1715; see Greece) to the Turks ended Venetian dominance in the East Mediterranean. Although the dramatist Goldoni and painters such as Tiepolo and Canaletto still made Venice the most original artistic city of 18th-century Italy, they represented to some extent the decadence that accompanied the city’s commercial and military decline. Politics in 18th-century Venice was aristocratic and stagnant. When, in 1797, Napoleon I delivered Venice to Austria in the Treaty of Campo Formio, the republic fell without fighting. During the Risorgimento, however, Venice played a vigorous role under the leadership of Daniele Manin; having expelled the Austrians in 1848, it heroically resisted siege until 1849. In 1866, Venice and Venetia were united with the kingdom of Italy.           Since the 1950s, the city has been increasingly swamped by periodic floods, in part because it is sinking. Increased air pollution from cars and industrial smoke has contributed to the deterioration of the ancient buildings and works of art, and the high phosphorus and nitrogen content of the lagoon has stimulated algal growth, which has depleted marine life. Such environmental problems have led to a steady depopulation of Venice to the mainland over the past several decades. A major international aid program, begun in the mid-1960s by UNESCO, has searched for ways to preserve Venice; several government studies of Venice’s problems have also been undertaken. In 1988, engineers began testing prototypes for a mechanical barrage, which could be raised in time of flooding to close the lagoon.  
Some notes about the city:  
St. Mark's Square (Piazza S.Marco) is the only true square in Venice (the others open areas are campi ).  It was called "the drawing room of the world" by Musset and has been the scene of some of the most important religious and political activities of the Serenissima as well as the center of Venetian social life for almost a millennium. 

The Palazzo Ducale (Doge's Palace) got its present form after radical changing during the 14th and 16th century. It was the Doge's residence and at the same time seat of many different political and social institutions. The first floor was occupied by minor institutions, such as the Avogaria or lawyers offices, where law cases were examined; the Chancellery; the Censors and Provveditori della Milizia del Mar (Naval Offices) which oversaw the care and equipping of ships. The Grand Council chamber, the largest room of the palace, the Ballot chamber, where the committee met to elect the Doge, and the Doge's apartments are located on the second floor. The Sala del Collegio, where foreign ambassadors were received, and rooms used by the state security service like the Council of Ten are located on the third floor. The Bussola chamber is a small room with a box where citizens could submit written complaints against other citizens. The Sala dei Tre Capi (Three Chiefs Room) was used by three components of the Council of Ten, who kept that place only for one month. The State Inquisitor Room was used to interrogate prisoners. 
 
Throughout Europe the Serenissima's government was considered a model of stability, honesty and demonstrated the possibility of combining the monarchy, aristocracy and democracy, in the figures of the Doge, the Senate and the Grand Council. The Doge represented the unity of the Republic. He was elected for life by the Grand Council, chosen from among the greatest Venetian families and in general was older than 70. The Doge's powers were very limited. He could not make any decisions in the absence of the six Councillors of the six sestieri of the city of Venice. He could not leave Venice unless he was accompanied by at least two Councilors. 

The actions of the Doge were controlled by the Seignory, which consisted of the six Councilors, the three heads of the supreme tribunal and the Doge himself. Moreover the Doge had to pay for all official festivities organized in the Doge's Palace, for any restoration work done in the Palace and often had to pay for military operations, without getting money from the State. In fact it was not for a desire for money or power that made Venetians desire to be Doge, but for the honor of covering the highest position of the Republic and all the noble families wished for the the privilege of having a Doge in their family as this insured that their name would be remembered through out history. Also some commoners made extraordinary services to the State or payed substantial sums to the government or to impoverished nobles to buy titles of nobility and to have their name written in the Golden Book so that they could be members of the Grand Council and in this way hope for a nomination as Doge. There is one dark spot in the history of the Doges of the Serenissima. After the election of Doge Marin Falier, he tried to lead a popular conspiracy and was executed by order of the Council of Ten. The Council of Ten in fact were responsible for decisions about crimes against the State and about decisions requiring absolute secrecy. They also prevented the ambitions of influential citizens from threatening the Venetian Republic. In the Ballot Chamber of the Doge's Palace, where the portraits of the Doges are exhibited, the portrait of Marin Falier is replaced by a black veil in remembrance of his crime. In Venice no single institution monopolized power because no single decision making body could operate unchecked by another and the quick rotation of all offices made it difficult for a single individual or faction to appropriate power or to be corrupted because their time in office is not long enough to be useful for such a purpose. Frauds in casting ballots have been known to happen in Venice, before ballots were cast, Grand Council members milled about in front of the palace, on the "broglio", where the most powerful tried to buy the votes of impoverished nobles, called the barnabotti. It is from this practice that the the word broglio (entanglement) came in to use and is still used today. 

The New and Old Procuratie, bordering the Square, was the offices of the 9 Procurators, the most important citizens of Venice after the Doge. They were controlling the Square, the Basilica and the 6 sections of the city, called sestieri . In 1585 the Venetian ambassador to Istanbul told the Senate that the Turkish were drinking a hot black drink, made by a seed called Kahavè and that people had difficulty in falling asleep after drinking this beverage. This seed was brought back to Venice and in 1638 it was roasted, ground and sold at an expensive price from a special café shop which was located directly under the Procurator. In a short time the café shops opened all of the city and by the end of the next century there were 24 such café's in St.Mark's Square alone. These café's soon became the favorite place among intellectuals to meet and drink coffee. Gambling, another favorite past time of the Venetian nobility also went on in the café's. The popularity of these places grew more and more, and in 1720 one of the most elegant: "Caffè alla Venezia trionfante" opened it's doors. This Café of the Triumphant Venice was a popular meeting point for both foreign and national high society. Such notables as Carlo Goldoni, the brothers Gozzi and Antonio Canova often spent many hours in this café. The café's first owner was Floriano Francesconi and therefore the café was affectionately called "Florian". In 1775 G. Quadri decided to open a new café shop in front of the Florian on the opposite side of the Square and promised to serve only real Turkish Café. For a long time the shop had a bad reputation, driving the owner to near bankruptcy, but in 1830 the nobility recognized the Café Quadri as having fine service and quality coffee and it's reputation for quality remains today. 

"El paron de casa" (the lord of the house): so Venetians called the bell tower of St. Mark. On July 14, 1902 it collapsed. It didn't do any damage to the Basilica either even though it stands just a few feet from its entrance. Inside the bell tower there are 5 large cast iron bells. Each bell has a name and a purpose; Marangona rang mornings and evenings at the beginning and end of the work day, Maleficio rang for capital executions, Nona rang at the 9th hour, Trottiera called magistrates to meetings in the Palazzo Ducale, and the bell of Pregadi called senators to the Palace. 
 
The clocktower:The clock shows the hours in Roman numerals, the phases of the moon and the Zodiac. It also gives indications to sailors about the tides and which months are more favorable for sailing. The Serenissima gave a large reward to the Ranieri brothers who constructed the clock tower, but legend has it that later their eyes were removed in order to keep them from repeating such a wonder. 

The Bridge of Sighs received its name in the 17th century, because the prisoners who passed through it on their way to the prison cells on the other side would most likely see the beautiful sight of the lagoon and the island of S.Giorgio and freedom for the last time.

The streets in Venice generally have ancient and above all curious names which reflect different work that was done in the area (like Calle del "Pestrin", which means milkman, of "Pistor", which means baker, of "Fruttarol", which means fruit seller, etc.), commercial activities (like "Mercerie", where you could buy fabrics, "Frezzerie", where they made arrows, Calle "Fiubera" where they made buckles for shoes, etc.) and the origins of inhabitants (like Calle dei "Preti", the street of priests, or "Muneghe", meaning nuns, or "Ragusei", which refers to the people from Ragusa, Dubrovnik nowadays, who lived in that area of Venice, riva dei "Schiavoni", the "big slaves", refers to slaves brought from the Dalmatan Coast, etc.). There are also many stories about places names. The Riva di Biasio comes from Biagio who was thought to be the owner of a little XVI century restaurant (an "osteria"). Biasio was well-known by all the sailors as a good cook, especially for his delicious meat dishes. However Biasio became infamous when a customer found a baby's finger in his plate. Another story about Biasio reports him to be a butcher who sold human instead of animal meat. However the story about his death is very clear. He was condemned to death by the Serenissima Republic, tortured on a boat crossing the width of the Grand Canal. Then, as a warning to all Venetians, he was tied between the two columns of the Piazzetta and publicly beheaded. Biasio was then cut into four parts hung on four hooks on the four cardinal points of Venice so that everyone could see him and remember his crime. On a lighter note, Campiello Mosca (meaning fly) has its origin not in relation to the annoying insects, but in reference to the false beauty spots, called mosche. These beauty spots were worn by both men and women and were very important during the period of the Serenissima as they were used as silent and secret messages depending where they were placed on the wearers face, following a precise code. A woman who wore a beauty spot near an eye would mean: "I'm irresistible". 

Arsenal. Perhaps the most famous institution of Venice is the arsenal, whose history and activity has continued unbroken from the earliest days of the republic down to the present time. The arsenal was founded about the year 1104 by the doge The Ordelap Falier. Before that date Venetian shipping was built at the spot near the piazzetta, known as the terra nova, where the royal gardens now are. The arsenal, which was famous in Dante’s day, received its first enlargement in 1304,when, on the design of Andrea Pisano, new building sheds and the rope walk or Tana were erected. Pisano’s building sheds, nine in a row, with peculiarly shaped roofs, were still standing intact—one of the most interesting medieval monuments of Venice—until a century ago, but-they have been modified past recognition. In 1325 the second addition the arsenale nuovo was made, and a third, in 1473; a fourth, the Riparto delle Galeazze, about 1539; and in 1564 the fifth enlargement, the Canal delle Galeazze e Vasca, took place. After the fall of the republic the arsenal continued to occupy the attention of the various governments. In 1810 the site of the suppressed convent and church of the Celestia was added. The entire circuit of the arsenal, about two miles in extent, is protected by a lofty wall with turrets. The main door of the arsenal is the first example in Venice of the purely classical style. It is a noble portal, erected in 1460, apparently from designs by Fra Giocondo, with the lion of St Mark in the attic. The statuary, with Sta Giustina on the summit of the tympanum, was added in 1571 and 1578. The design was modified in 1688 so as to represent a triumphal arch in honour of Morosini Peloponnesiaco, who brought from Athens to Venice the four lions in Pentelic marble which now stand before the gate. (On the largest of these lions is cut a runic inscription recording an attack on the Piraeus in the 11th century by Norse warriors of the Varangian guard, under Harold Hardrada, afterwards—I047 king of Norway). The arsenal suffered frequently and severely from fires, the worst being those of 1509 and 1569; yet such was the wealth of Venice that in the following year she put upon the seas the fleet that crushed the Turks at Lepanto in 1571. 

Gild Halls. Among the most remarkable buildings in Venice are the scuole, or gild halls, of the various confraternities. They were pious foundations created for mutual benefit and for purposes of charity. The scuole were divided into the six scuole grandi, so called from their numbers, wealth and privileges, and the scuole minori or fraglie, which in most cases were associated with an art or craft. The scuole minori were usually attached to some church in the quarter where the particular trade flourished. They had their special altar dedicated to the patron of the gild, a private burying place, and a room in which they held their chapter. The six scuole grandi, San Teodoro, S. Maria della Carità, S. Giovanni Evangelista, San Marco, della Misericordia and San Rocco, on the other hand, built themselves magnificent gild halls. The Scuola di San Giovanni Evangelista and the Scuola di San Marco are  both masterpieces of the Lombardesque style. The Scuola di San Marco is now a part of the town hospital, and besides its façade it is remarkable for the handsome carved ceiling in the main hall (1463). Other beautiful ceilings are to be found in the great hall and the hail of the Albergo in the Scuola della Carità, now the Accademia. They are the work of Marco Cozzi of Vicenza and were executed between 1461, and 1464. The design of the former is a trellis crossing the ceiling diagonally; in each of the lacunae is carved a cherubim with eight wings; the figures and the trellis are gilded; the ground is a rich ultramarine. But the most magnificent of these gild halls is the Scuola di San Rocco, designed by Bartolomeo Buono in 1517 and carried out by Scarpagnino and Sante Lombardo. The façade on the Campo is large and pure in conception. The great staircase and the Inwer and upper halls contain the unrivalled series of paintings by Tintoretto, which called forth such unbounded enthusiasm on the part of Ruskin.

Public Monuments.—Venetian sculpture is for the most part ancillary to architecture; for example, Antonio Rizzo’s ‘Adam and  Eve’ (1464), which face the Giants`Staircase in the ducal palace, are parts of the decorative scheme; Sansovino’s splendid monument to Tornaso Rangone is an essential feature of the façade of San Giuliano. The most successful Venetian sculpture is to be found in the many noble sepulchral private monuments. The jealousy of the Venetian republic forbade the erection of monuments to her great men. The sole exception is the superb equestrian statue in honour of the General Bartolonieo Colleoni, which stands on the Campa SS. Giovanni e Paolo. By his will Colleoni left his vast fortune to Venice on condition that a monument should be raised to him at St Mark’s. He meant the great piazza, but by a quibble the republic evaded the concession of so unique an honour and claimed to have fulfilled the conditions of the bequest by erecting the monument at the Scuola of St Mark. The republic entrusted the work to the Florentine Verrocchio, who dying before the statue was completed begged the government to allow his pupil Lorenzo di Credi to carry it to a conclusion. The Venetians, however, called in Alessandro Leopardi, who cast the great equestrian group and added the pure and graceful pedestal. The monument was unveiled on the 21st of March 1496.

Campanili. Among the more striking features of Venice we must reckon the campanili (singular campanile) or bell-towers. These were at one time more numerous than at the present day; earthquakes and subsidence of foundations have brought many of them down, the latest to fall being the great tower of San Marco itself, which collapsed on July 14th, I906.  Its reconstruction was at once undertaken, and completed in 1910. In a few other cases, for example at San Giorgio Maggiore, the fallen campanili were restored; but for the most part they were not replaced. The Venetian campanile usually stands detached from the church. It is almost invariably square; the only examples of round campanili in this part of Italy are to be found at Ravenna and at Caorle to the east of Venice; while inside Venice itself the solitary exception to the square plan was the campanile of San Paternian, built in 999 and now demolished, which was a hexagon. The campanile is usually a plain brick shaft with shallow pilasters running up the faces. It has small angle-windows to light the interior inclined plane or staircase, and is not broken into storey's with grouped windows as in the case of the Lombard bell-towers. Above the shaft comes the arcaded bell-chamber, frequently built of Istrian stone; and above that again the attic, either round or square or octagonal, carrying either a cone or a pyramid or a cupola, sometimes surmounted by a cross or a gilded angel which serves as a weathercock. Cressets used to be kept burning at night on some of the campanili to serve as beacons for those at sea. Among the existing campanili the oldest are San Geremia, dating from the 11th century, San Samuele from the 12th, San Barnaba and San Zaccaria from the 13th. The campanile of S. Giovanni Elemosinario at Rialto, ruined in 1361, rebuilt between 1398 and 1410  is called by Ruskin “the most interesting piece of central Gothic remaining comparatively intact in Venice".

The word Fondao (derived through Arabic from the Greek ) , as applied to some of the Venetian palaces, denotes the mercantile headquarters of a foreign trading nation. Those still existing are the Turkish and the German (F. de’ Tedescin), the latter converted into a post office.
 
The glass manufactory of Murano,  a small island  to the north of Venice, was a great source of revenue to the republic. Glass drinking cups and ornamental vessels, ‘some decorated with enamel painting, and “silvered” mirrors were produced in great quantities from the 14th century downwards, and exported. Like many other arts in Venice, that of glass-making appears to have been imported from Moslem countries, and the influence of Oriental design can be traced in much of the Venetian glass. The art of making stained-glass windows was not practiced by the Venetians; almost the only fine glass in Venice is that in a south transept window in the Dominican church, which, though designed by able Venetian painters, is obviously the work of foreigners. The ancient glass-bead industry (conterie), which some years since suffered severely from over-production, has now regained’ its position through the union of the different factories, by which the output is controlled in such a way as to render trade profitable. Similarly, the glass industry has revived. New amalgams and methods of colouring have been discovered, and fresh forms have been diligently studied. Special progress has, been made in the production of mirrors, electric lamps, candelabra and mosaics.

Venice became very celebrated in the 15th century for textiles. Its damasks and other silk stuffs with patterns of extraordinary beauty surpassed in variety and splendor those of the other chief centres of silk-weaving, such as Florence and Genoa. In addition to the native stuffs, an immense quantity of costly Oriental carpets, wall-hangings and other textiles was imported into Venice, partly for its own use, and partly for export throughout western Europe. On occasions of festivals or pageants the balconies, the bridges, the boats, and even the façades of the houses, were hung with rich Eastern carpets or patterned textiles in gold and coloured silk. 

The secret of lace-making was believed to have been lost, but the late Signor Fambri discovered at Chioggia an old woman who knew it, and placed her at the head of a lace school. Fambri was ruined by his enterprise, but other manufacturers, more expert than he, drew profit from his initiative, and founded flourishing factories at Pellestrina and Burano. 

Under the republic, and until modern times, the water supply, of Venice was furnished by the storage of rain-water, supplemented by, water brought from the Brenta in boats. The famous Venetian wells for storing rain-water from the roofs and streets, consisted of a closed basin with a water-tight stratum of clay at the bottom, upon which a slab of stone was laid; a brick shaft of radiating bricks laid in a permeable jointing material of clay and sand was then built. At some distance from the shaft a square water-tight wall was built, and the space between it and the shaft was filled in with sand, which was purified of all saline matter by repeated washings; on the ground-level perforated stones set at tile four corners of the basin admitted the rain-water, which was discharged from the roofs by lead pipes; this water filtered through the sand and percolated into the shaft of the well, whence it was drawn in copper buckets. The water supply, introduced in 1884, is brought from the commune of Trebaseleghe, where it is collected from 120 artesian wells. It is carried under the lagoon to Sant’ Andrea, where the reservoirs are placed. 

The church is ruled by the patriarch of Venice, the metropolitan of the province formed by the Veneto. The patriarch of Venice is usually raised to the purple. The patriarchate dates from 1451, when on the death of Domenico Michiel, patriarch of Grado, the seat of that honour was transferred from desolate and insalubrious Grado to the cathedral church of Castello in Venice, and Michiel’s successor, Lorenzo Giustinian, assumed the title of patriarch of Venice. On the fall of the republic St Mark’s became the cathedral church of the patriarch. There are many parishes in the city of Venice, in the lagoon islands and on the littoral.

The dawn of Venice and  something about its waterways and bridges: Venice occupies one of the most remarkable sites in the world. At the head of the Adriatic, between the mountains and the sea, lies that part of the Lombard plain known as the Veneto. The whole of this plain has been formed by the debris swept down from the Alps by the rivers Po, Ticino, Oglio, Adda, Mincio, Adige, Brenta, Piave, Livenza, Tagliamento and Isonzo. The substratum of the plain is a bed of boulders, covered during the lapse of ages by a deposit of rich alluvial soil. The rivers when they debouch from the mountains assume an eastern trend in their effort to reach the sea. The result is that the plain is being gradually extended in an easterly direction, and cities like Ravenna, Adria and Aquileia, which were once seaports, lie now many miles inland. The encroachment of land on sea has been calculated at the rate of about three miles in a thousand years. A strong current sets round the head of the Adriatic from east to west. This current catches the silt brought down by the rivers and projects it in long banks, or lidi, parallel with the shore. In process of time some of these banks, as in the case of Venice, raised themselves above the level of the water and became the true shore-line, while behind them lay large surfaces of water, called lagoons, formed partly by the fresh water brought down by the fivers, partly by the salt-water tide which found its way in by the channels of the river mouths. 

Along the coast -line, roughly speaking between the Apennines at Rimini and the Carnic Alps at Trieste, three main systems of lagoons were thus created, the lagoon of Grado or Marano to the east, the lagoon of Venice in the middle, and the lagoon of Comacchio to the south-west. All three are dotted with small islands, possibly the remains of sorpe earlier lido. These islands are little else than low mud banks, barely rising above the water-level. On a group of these mud banks about the middle of the lagoon of Venice stands the city of Venice. It would be difficult to imagine a site less adapted for the foundation and growth of a great community. The soil is an oozy mud which can only be made capable of carrying buildings by the artificial means of pile-driving; there is no land fit for agriculture or the rearing of cattle; the sole food supply is, fish from the lagoon, and there is no drinking-water save such as could be stored from the rainfall. Yet the group of islands called Rialto, in mid-Venetian lagoon, were first the asylum and then the magnificent and permanent home of a race that took a prominent part in the medieval and Renaissance history of Europe. The local drawbacks and difficulties once surmounted, Venice by her geographical position became the seaport nearest the heart of Europe. 

As to the ethnography of the race little is known that is certain. It has frequently been said that the lagoon population was originally composed of refugees from the mainland seeking asylum from the incursions of Huns, Goths and Lombards; but it is more probable that, long before the date of the earliest barbarian inroad, the lagoon islands already had a population of fisher folk. In any case we may take it that the lagoon-dwellers were racially identical with the inhabitants of the neighboring mainland, the Heneti or Veneti. The dwellings of the primitive settlers in the lagoons were, in all probability, rude huts made of long reeds, such as may be seen to this day in the lagoon of Grado. A ditch was cut deep into the mud so as to retain the water at low tide, and there the boats of the fishermen lay. The ground was made solid and protected from corrosion by a palisade of wattled osiers, thus creating the earliest form of the fonda-menta, or quay, which funs along the side of so many Venetian canals and is so prominent a feature in the construction of the city. Gradually, as time went on, and probably with the influx of refugees from the mainland, bricks made of lagoon mud came to take the place of wattle and reeds in the construction of the houses. Groups of dwellings, such as are still to be seen on some of the small canals at Burano, clustered together along the banks of the deeper channels which traverse the lagoon islands and give access to the tide. It is these channels which determined the lines of construction; the dwellings followed their windings, and that accounts for the extraordinarily complex network of calles and canals, which characterizes modern Venice. 

The whole site of Venice is dominated by the existence of one great main canal, the Canal Grande (=Grand Canal), which, winding through the town in the shape of the letter S, divides it into two equal parts. This great canal was probably at one time the bed of a river flowing into the lagoons near Mestre. The smaller canals all serve as arteries to the Grand Canal. One other broad canal, once the bed of the Brenta, divides the island of the Gradecca from the rest of the city and takes its name from that island. The ordinary Venetian house was built round a courtyard, and was one storey high; on the roof was an open loggia for drying clothes; in front, between the house and the water, ran the fondamenta. The earliest churches were built with cemeteries for the dead; and thus we find the nucleus of the city of Venice, little isolated groups of dwellings each on its separate islet, scattered, as Cassiodorus  says, like sea-birds nests over the face of the waters. Some of the islets were still uninhabited; covered with a dense low growth which served as cover  for game and even for wolves. 

With the destruction of  the mainland cities by repeated barbarian invasions, and thanks to the gradual development of Venice as a centre of coasting trade in the northern Adriatic, the aspect of the city changed. Brick and more rarely stone took the place of wood and wattle. The assaults of the Dalmatian pirates, attracted by the growing wealth of the city, necessitated the building of strong castellated houses. Of which no example has come down to our day, but we may gather what they were like from Petrarch's description of his house on the Riva degli Schiavoni, with its two flanking towers, probably retaining the primitive form, and also from the representations of protecting towers which occur in Carpaccio's pictures. The canals too were guarded by chains stretched across their mouths and by towers in some eases, as, for example, in the case of the Torricelli Canal, which takes its name from these defense works. These houses  clustered round the churches which now began to be. The canals between these dusters of houses were deepened and cleared out, and in some cases trees were planted along the banks, or fondamenta; we hear of the cypresses on San Giorgio Maggiore, of an ancient mulberry tree at San Salvadore, of a great elder tree near the Procuratie Vecchie where the magistrates were wont to tie their horses. There were vineyards and orchards (broli) on land reclaimed from the sea, and lying between the various clusters of houses, which had not yet been consolidated into one continuous city. 

The canals were, crossed by, wooden bridges without steps, and in the case of the wide Grand Canal the bridge at Rialto was carried on boats, gradually, however, stone bridges came into use. The earliest of these was the bridge of San Zaccaria, mentioned in  a document of 1170. The Rialto bridge was designed in 1178 by Nicolo Barattieri, and was carried on pontoons. In 1255 and 1264 it was rebuilt, still in wood. It was carried on beams and could be raised in the middle, as we see it in Carpaccio’s picture of “The Miracle of the Cross.” The present bridge, the work of Antonio or Giovanni Contino, whose nickname was da Ponte, dates from 1588, and cost 250,000 ducats. The same
architect was responsible for the lofty “Bridge of Sighs” (1595) connecting the ducal palace with the state prisons (1591—97) on the opposite side of the narrow canal: on the east of the Rio del Palazzo. The early bridges were inclined planes and could easily be crossed by horses. It was not till the city became more populous and when stone-stepped bridges were introduced that the use of horses died out. As late as 1365 the Doge Lorenzo Celsi owned a famous stud of chargers, and in 1490 the Doge Michele Steno’s stables, where the present Zecca stands, were famous throughout Italy. In 1392 a law put an end to riding in the Merceria, on account of the crowd, and all horses and mules were obliged to carry bells to warn foot-passengers. The lanes and alleys of the early city were unpaved and filthy with slops from the houses. But in the 13th century ,the Venetians began to pave the more frequented streets with brick. Ferries or traghelli for crossing the canals were also established as early as the 13th century; we find record of ferries at San Gregorio, San Felice, San Tomà, San Samuele, and so on, and also of longer ferries to the outlying islands like Murano and Chioggia, or to the mainland at Mestre and Fusina. The boatmen early erected themselves into gilds. 
The characteristic conveyances on the canals of Venice—which take the place of cabs in other cities—are the gondolas, fiat-bottomed boats, some 30 ft. long by 4 or 5 ft. wide, curving out of the water at the ends, with ornamental bow and stern pieces and an iron beak (Jerro), resembling a halberd, which is the highest part of the boat. The gondolier stands on a poppa at the stern with his face towards the bow, and propels the gondola with a single oar. There is a low cabin (Jeize) for passengers; the ordinary gondolas can take four or six persons, and larger ones (barca or battello) take eight. Gondolas are mentioned as far back as 1094, and, prior to a sumptuary edict passed by the great council in the 16th century, making black their compulsory colour, they were very different in appearance from now. Instead of the present boat, with its heavy black cabin and absence of colouring, the older forms had an awning of rich stuffs or gold embroideries, supported on a light arched framework open at both ends; this is the gondola still seen at Carpaccio’s and Gentile Bellini’s pictures (c. 1500). Since 1880 services of omnibus steamers (now municipal) have also been introduced.  

Byzantine Architecture. We can trace the continuous growth of Venice through. the successive styles of Byzantine, Gothic, early Renaissance and late Renaissance architecture. The whole subject is magnificently treated in Ruskin’s Stones of Venice. The two most striking buildings in Venice, St Mark’s and the Doge’s Palace, at once give us an example of the two earlier styles, the Byzantine and the Gothic, at least in their general design, though both are so capricious in development and in decoration that they may more justly be considered as unique specimens rather than as typical examples of their respective styles. In truth, owing to its isolated position on the very verge of Italy, and to its close connexion with the East, Venetian architecture was an independent development. Though displaying a preponderance of Oriental characteristics, it retained a quality of its own quite unlike the styles evolved by other Western countries. 
The Byzantine style prevailed in Venice during the 11^th  and 12^th  centuries. The arches of this period are semicircular and usually highly stilted. Sculptured ornamentation, flowing scrollwork of semi-conventional foliage mingled with grotesque animals, bieds or dragons, is freely applied to arches and string courses. The walls are built of solid brickwork and then covered with thin slabs of rich and costly marbles. Sculptured panels, with conventional motives, peacocks, eagles devouring hares, peacocks drinking from a cup on a tall pillar, are let into both exterior and interior walls, as are roundels of precious marbles, sawn from columns of porphyry,  verd antique, &c. The adoption of veneer for decoration prohibited any deep cutting, and almost all the sculpture is shallow. Only, in the capitals, which are of extraordinary richness and variety, do we get any deep or bold relief. Dentil moldings, of which examples may still be seen in the remains of the palace of Blachernae at Constantinople, are characteristic of Venetian ornamentation at this period, and remain a permanent feature in Venetian architecture down to the 11th century. The dome is the leading idea or motif in Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture; the domes are placed over square, not circular apartments, and their bases are brought, to a circle by means of pendentives. In exterior elevation the chief effect is produced by the grouping of the domes. In the interior the effect is gained by broad masses of chromatic decoration in marble-veneer and mosaics on a gold ground to cover the walls and vaults, and by elaborate pavements of opus sectile and, opus Alexandrinum. 
Owing  to the marshy site the foundations of buildings in Venice offered considerable difficulties. A trench was dug in the soft upper mud until the stratum of stiff blue clay was reached. Piles of elm, oak, white poplar or larch were driven into this clay to the depth of 16 to 20 ft. or until absolute resistance was encountered. The heads of the piles were from 10 to 11 in. in diameter and they were driven in almost in contact. On this surface of pile heads was laid a platform of two layers of squared oak beams, and on this again the foundations proper were built. In some cases, however, as for example in the ducal palace itself, if the clay appeared sufficiently firm, the piles were dispensed with and the foundations went up directly from the oak platform which rested immediately on the clay. During the middle ages the walls of Venetian buildings were constructed invariably of brick. They were usually solid, but in some cases they were built a sacco— that is to say, two thin outer walls were built and the space between them was filled with grouted rubble. The delicate creamy Istrian stone, which is now so prominent a feature in Venetian architecture, did not come into common use till after the 11th century, when the Istrian coast became permanently Venetian.  Before the mortar used in Venice was made of lime from Istria, which possessed no hydraulic qualities and was consequently very perishable, a fact which to a large extent accounts for the fall of the Campanile of San Marco. But when Venice took possession of the mainland her builders were able to employ a strong hydraulic dark lime from Albettone, which formed a durable cement, capable of resisting salt water and the corrosive sea air.
The church of St Mark’s, originally the private chapel of the doge, is unique among the buildings of the world in respect of its unparalleled richness of material and decoration. A law of the republic required every merchant trading to the East to bring back some material for the adornment of the fane. Indeed, the building has been compared to the treasure den of a gang of “sea sharkers,” and from a museum of sculpture of the most varied kind, nearly every century from the 4th down to the latest Renaissance being represented. The present church is the third on this site. Soon after the concentration at Rialto a small wooden church was erected about the year 828 for the reception of the relics of St Mark, which had been brought from Alexandria when the Moslems pulled down the church where he was buried. In order to justify the removal of St.Mark's body, legend states that when the Evangelist went to the lagoon, an angel came and said: "Pax tibi Marce, Evangelista meus" (Translation from Latin : peace to you, Mark my Evangelist), showing in this way that God had determined Venice as the final resting place of the Saint. The Venetians acted to fulfill the divine profecy. St Mark then became the patron saint of Venice in place of St Theodore. This church was burned in 976 along with the ducal palace in the insurrection against the Doge Candiano IV, Pietro Orseolo and his successors rebuilt the church on a larger scale in the form of a basilica with three eastern apses and no transept, and Byzantine workmen were employed. As the state grew in wealth and importance the church grew with it. About the year 1063 the Doge Contarini resolved to remodel St Mark’s. There can be no doubt that Byzantine artists had a large share in the work, but it is equally certain that Lombard workmen. were employed along with the Orientals, and thus St Mark’s became, as it were, a workshop in which two styles, Byzantine and Lombard, met and were fused together, giving birth to a new style, peculiar to the district, which may fairly be called Veneto-Byzantine. 
  In plan St Mark’s is a Greek cross of equal arms, covered by a dome in the centre, 42 ft. in diameter, and by a dome over each of the arms. The plan is derived from the Church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople, now covered by the mosque of Mahommed II., and bears a strong resemblance to the plan of St Front at Périgueux in France (1120). The addition of a narthex before the main front and a vestibule on the northern side brings the whole western arm of the cross to a square on plan. In elevation the façade seems to have connexion with the five-bayed façade of the Kahriyeh Jamè, or mosaic mosque, at Constantinople. The exterior façade is enriched with marble columns brought from Alexandria and other cities of the East, and bearing in many cases incised graffiti. Mosaics are employed to decorate the spandrils of the arches. Only one of the onginal mosaics now exists, the one over the doorway at the north-western, or St Alipio, angle. Its subject, which is of high historical value as a record of costume, represents the translation of the body of St Mark, and gives us a view of the west façade of the church as it was at the beginning of the 13th century before the addition of the ogee gables, with alternating crockets and statues, and the intermediate pinnacled canopies placed between the five great arches of the upper storey.  
The top of the narthex forms a wide gallery, communicating with the interior at the triforium level. In the centre of this gallery stand the four colossal bronze horses which belonged probably to some Graeco-Roman triumphal quadriga, and were brought to Venice by the Doge Enrico Dandolo after the fall of Constantinople in 1204 . Their heads were separated from the bodies to make the transportation  easier. After arriving in Venice, the cuts between neck and head were hidden by collars. They were cast in almost pure copper, harder to melt but easier to gild.  In 1797 after Napoleon Bonaparte declared the official end of the Venetian Republic he sold the Venetian territories to Vienna but before leaving the city the French looted all that they could carry including the four horses. They were returned by the French Government only after 1815 and restored by Francis of Austria.
Mosaic is the essential decoration of the church, and the architectural details are subordinated to the colour scheme. These mosaics belong to very various dates. The Doge Domenico Selvo began the decoration of the church in 1071, though it is uncertain whether any of his work can be now identified. The mosaics of the domes would seem to belong to the 12th century, probably before 1150. The mosaics of the atrium date from 1200 to 1300; the subjects are taken from Old Testament story. The baptistery mosaics represent the life of St John. The mosaics in the chapel of St Isidore (finished by Andrea Dandolo), giving us the life of the saint, were executed in 1355. In the sacristy is a series of 10th-century mosaics, arid in other parts of the church are inferior and later mosaics from cartoons by later Venetian masters. Below the mosaics the walls and arches are covered with rare marb1es- porphyries and alabaster from ancient columns sawn into slices and so arranged in broad bands as to produce a rich gamut of colour. The eastern crypt, or confessio, extends under the whole of the choir and has three apses, Iike the upper church. The body of St Mark formerly rested here, but is now within the high altar. Below the nave is another crypt. The floors of both crypts have sunk considerably and are often under water; this settlement accounts for the inequalities of the pavement. The original part of the magnificent mosaic pavement probably dates from the middle of the 12th century, if we may judge from the pavement at Murano, exactly similar in style, material and workmanship, which bears the date 1140. The pavement consists partly of opus Alexandrinum of red and green porphyry mixed with marbles, partly of tesselated work of glass and marble tesserae. The choir stands about 4 ft. above the nave and is separated from it by a marble rood-screen, on the architrave of which stand fourteen figures, the signed work of Jacobello and Pietro Paolo delle Masegne, 1394. 
 The Pala d’oro, or retable of the high altar, is one of the chief glories of St Mark’s. It is one of the most magnificent specimens of goldsmiths’ and jewellers’ work in existence. It was ordered in 976 at Constantinople by the Doge Pietro I. Orseolo, and was enlarged and enriched with gems and modified in form, first by a Greek artificer in 1105, and then by Venetians between 1209 and 1345. It is composed of figures of Christ, angels, prophets and saints, in Byzantine enamel run into gold plates. The treasury of St Mark’s contains a magnificent collection of church plate and jewels. 
Fine examples of Venetian Byzantine palaces—at least of the façades—are still to be seen on the Grand Canal and in some of the small canals. The interiors have been modified past recognition of their original disposition. The Byzantine palace seems to have had twin angle-towers—geminas angulares lurres—such as those of the Ca’ Molin on the Riva degii Schiavoni, where Petrarch lived. The restored (1830) Fondaco’ dei Turchi (13th century), now the Musco Civico, also has two angle-towers. The palaces façades presented continuous colonnades on each floor with semicircular high stilted arches, leaving a very small amount of wall space. The buildings were usually battlemented in fantastic form. A good specimen may be seen in Lazzaro Sebastiani’s picture of the piazzetta, in the Museo Civico. There on the right we see the handsome building of the old bakery, occupying the site of the present library; it has two arcades of Saracen arches and a fine row of battlements. Other specimens still in existence are the municipal buildings, Palazzo Loredan and Palazzo Farsetti—if, indeed, these are not to be considered rather as Romanesque—and the splendid Ca’ da Mosto, all on the Grand Canal. The richest ornamentation was applied to the arches and string courses, while plaques of sculpture, roundels and coats of arms adorned the façades. The remains of a Byzantine façade now almost entirely built into a wall in the Rio di Ca’ Foscari offer us excellent illustration of this decorative work. 
Square of St Mark . At first the original campo was limited to the parvis of the Basilica, because of the presence of a canal, "Rio Batario", which divided the present Square in two parts. The part of the Square now between the Procuratie, was once the vegetable garden of S.Zaccaria monastery with the 6th-century church of S S.Geminiano church in the middle. The first enlargement of the square was effected by Doge Sebastiano Ziani in 1176 for the meeting of Pope Alexander III and the Emperor Barbarossa by filling in Rio Batario and the dock: the church was rebuilt on a new site. A small new Square was built with the columns of S.Marco and S.Todaro, the city's patron saints, overlooking St. Mark's Basin. The alteration of the Square was all done over the course of one century, adapting to the growing power and wealth of Venice. The present form reflects the works of many famous architects such as Sansovino, Longhena, Scamozzi, Rizzo and Tirani. Lastly, the square was extended southwards in the 16th century, when the new palace of the procurators was built by Scamozzi. Gentile Bellini’s picture shows a line of houses reaching up to the great campanile. Napoleon I in 1805—10 pulled down the church of S. Geminiano and built a new block at the west end of the square. The treasury of St Mark was originally one of the towers belonging to the old ducal palace.  Alessandro Leopardo was the creator (1505) of the three, handsome bronze sockets in front of St Mark’s which held the flagstaffs of the banners of Cyprus, Morea and Crete, when the republic was mistress of those territories. By the side of the sea in the piazzetta, on to which the west façade of the ducal palace faces, stand two ancient columns of Egyptian granite, one red and the other grey. These great monoliths were brought as trophies to Venice by Doge Domenico Michieli in 1126, after his victories in Syria. In 1180 they were set up with their present fine capitals and bases by a Lombard engineer, Niccolo de’ Barattieri. The grey column is surmounted by a fine bronze lion of Byzantine style, cast in Venice for Doge Ziani about 1178 (this was carried off to Paris by Napoleon in 1797, and sent back in pieces in 1816; but in 1893 it was put together again); and in 1329 a marble statue of St Theodore, standing upon a crocodile, was placed on the other column. Gothic architecture. Venetian Gothic, both ecclesiastical and domestic, shares most of the characteristics of north Italian Gothic generally, though in domestic architecture it displays one peculiarity which we shall presently note. The material, brick and terra-cotta, is the determining cause of the characteristics of north Italian Gothic. Flatness and lack of deep shadows, owing to the impossibility of obtaining heavy cornices in that material, mark the style. The prevalence of sunlight led to a restriction of the windows and exaggeration of wall space. The development of tracery was hindered both by the material and by the relative insignificance of the windows. On the other hand, the plastic quality of terracotta suggested an abundance of delicate ornamentation on a small scale, which produced its effect by its own individual beauty without broad reference to the general scheme. Coloued marbles and frescoes served a like purpose. The exteriors of the north Italian Gothic churches are characterized by the flatness, of the roof; the treatment of the west façade as a screen wall, masking the true lines of the aisle roofs; the great circular window in the west front for lighting the nave; the absence of pinnacles owing to the unimportance of the buttresses; the west-end porches with columns resting on lions or other animals. The peculiarity of Venetian domestic Gothic to which we have referred is this: we frequently find tracery used to fill rectangular, not arched, openings. The result is that the tracery itself has to support the structure above it—is, in fact, constructional—whereas in most other countries~the tracery is merely, as it were, a pierced screen filling in a constructional arch. Hence the noticeable heaviness of Venetian tracery.
Among the many Gothic churches of Venice the largest are the Franciscan church of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Fran (started 1250) and the Dominican church of SS Giovanni e Paolo (1260—1400). The Fran is remarkable for its fine choir-stalls and for the series of six eastern chapels which from outside give a very good example of Gothic brickwork, comparable with the even finer apse of the church of San Gregorio. The church of SS. Giovanni e Paolo was the usual burying-place of the doges, and contains noble mausoleums of various dates. Besides these two churches we may mention Santo Stefano, an interesting building of central Gothic,  the best ecclesiastical example of it in Venice. The apse is built over a canal. The west entrance is later than the rest of the edifice and is of the richest Renaissance Gothic.
But it is in the domestic architecture of Venice that we find the most striking and characteristic examples of Gothic. The introduction of that style coincided with the consolidation of the Venetian constitution and the development of Venetian commerce both in the Levant and with England and Flanders. The wealth which thus accrued found architectural expression in those noble palaces, so characteristic of Venice, which line the Grand and smaller canals. They are so numerous that we cannot do more than call attention to one or two. The most striking example is undoubtedly the  Ca d`Oro, so called from the profusion of gold employed on its façade. It was built for Marino Contarini II 1421, rather a late period in the development of the style. Marino kept a minute entry of his expenses, a document of the highest value, not merely for the history of the building, but also for the light it throws on the private life of the great patricians who gave to Venice such noble examples of art. Contarini was to some extent his own architect.  He had the assistance of Marco d`Amadio and of Matteo de Raverti the supervisor , who were joined later on by Giovanni Buono and his son Bartolomeo. Other artists, of whom we know nothing else, such as Antonio Busetto, Antonio Foscolo, Gasparino Rosso, Giacomo da Como, Marco da Legno and others created this masterpiece of decorated architecture. By the year 1431 the façade was nearly completed, and Contarini made a bargain with Martino and Giovanni Benzon for the marbles to cover what was yet unfinished. The façade is a triumph of graceful elegance. But Contarini was not content to  leave the marbles as they were.  He desired to have the façade of his house in colour. The contract for this work, signed with Master Zuan de Franza, conjures up a vision of the Ca d’ Oro ablate with colour and gleaming with the gold ornamentation from which it took its name.
Other notable examples of this style are the Palazzo Ariani at San Raffaelle, with its handsome window in a design of intersecting circles; the beautiful window with the symbols of the four Evangelists in the spandrils, in the façade of a house at San Stae; the row of three Giustinian palaces at S. Barnaba; the flamboyant balconies of the Palazzo Contarini Fasan; the Palazzo Bernardo on a side canal near S. Polo, a late central Gothic building (1380-1400) which Ruskin describes as “of the finest kind and superb in its effect of colour when seen from the side. Taken as a whole, after the ducal palace this is the noblest effect of all in Venice".
Early Renaissance.Towards the close of the 15th century Venetian architecture began to feel the influence of the classical revival; but, lying far from Rome. and retaining still her connexion with the East, Venice did not fall under the sway of the classical ideals either so quickly or so completely as most Italian cities. Indeed, in this as in the earlier styles, Venice struck out a line for herself and developed a style of her own, known as Lombardesque, after the family of the Lombardi (Solari) who came from Carona on the Lake of Lugano and may be said to have created it. The essential point about the style is that it is intermediary between Venetian Gothic and full Renaissance. We find it retaining some traces of Byzantine influence in the decorated surfaces of applied marbles, and in the roundels of porphyry and verd-antique, while it also retained certain characteristics of Gothic, as, for instance, in the pointed arches of the Renaissance façade in the courtyard of the Ducal Palace designed by Antonio Rizzo (1499). Special notes of the style are the central grouping of the windows, leaving comparatively solid spaces on each side, which gives the effect of main building with wings; the large amount of window space; the comparative flatness of the façades; the employment of a cornice to each storey; the effect of light and shade given by the balconies; and in churches by the circular pediments on the façades. The most perfect example of this style in ecclesiastical architecture is the little Church of the Miracoli built by Pietro Lombardo in 1480. The church is without aisles, and has a semicircular roof, and the choir is raised twelve steps above the floor of the nave. The walls, both internally and externally, are encrusted with marbles. The façade has the characteristic circular pediment with a large window surrounded by three smaller windows separated by two ornamental roundels in coloured marble and of geometric design. Below the pediment comes an arcade with flat pilasters, which runs all round the exterior of the church. Two of the bays contain round-headed windows; the other three are filled in with white marble adorned by crosses and roundels in coloured marble. The lower order contains the flat plastered portal with two paneled spaces on each side. Similar results are obtained in the magnificent, façade of the Scuola di San Marco, at SS. Giovanni e Paolo, which has six semicircular pediments of varying sire crowning the six hays, in the upper order of which are four noble Romanesque windows. The lower order contains the handsome portal with a semicircular pediment, while four of the remaining bays are filled with quaint scenes in surprisingly skilful perspective. The façade of San Zaccaria (1444—1500), the stately design of Antonio Gambello and Mauro Coducci, offers some slight modifications in the use of the semicircular pediment, the line of the aisle roof being indicated by quarter-circle pediments abutting on the façade of the nave; San Salvadore, the work of Tullio Lombardo (1530), is severer and less highly ornamented than the preceding examples, but its plan is singularly impressive, giving the effect of great space in a comparatively small area. In this connexion we must mention the Scuola of S. Giovanni Evangelista at the Fran, with its fore-court and screen adorned by pilasters delicately decorated with foliage in low relief, and its noble staircase whose double flights unite on a landing under a shallow cupola. This also was the work of Pietro Lombardo and his son TulIio.
Early Renaissance palaces occur frequently in Venice and form a pleasing contrast with those in the Gothic style. The Palazzo Dario with its dedication, Urbis genio, the superb Manzoni-Montecuculi-Polignac, with its friezes of spread-eagles in low relief, and the Vendramini-Calergi or Non nobis palace, whose façade is characterized by its roundheaded windows of grouped twin lights between columns, are among the more important; though beautiful specimens, such as the Palazzo Trevisan on the Rio della Paglia are to be found all over the city.
Later Renaissance. When we come to the fully developed Renaissance, architecture in Venice ceases to possess that peculiarly individual imprint which marks the earlier styles. It is still characterized by great splendor; the Library of San Marco, built by Jacopo Sansovino in 1536, is justly considered the most sumptuous example of Renaissance architecture in the world. It is rich, ornate, yet hardly florid, distinguished by splendid effects of light and shade, obtained by a far bolder use of projections than had hitherto been found in the somewhat flat design of Venetian façades. The columned, round-headed windows are set in deeply between the pillars which carry the massive entablature, and this again is surmounted by a balustrade with obelisks at each angle and figures marking the line of each bay. The Istrian stone of which the edifice is built has taken a fine patina, which makes the whole look like some richly embossed casket in oxidized silver. The full meaning of the change which had come over Venetian architecture, of the gulf which lies between the early Lombardesque style, so purely characteristic of Venice, and the fully developed classical revival, which now assumed undisputed sway, may best be grasped by comparing the Old and the New Procuratie. Not more than eighty years separate these two buildings, the Old Procuratie were built by Bartolomeo Buopo about 1500, the New by Scamozzi in 1580, yet it is clear that each belongs to an entirely different world of artistic ideas. The Procuratie Vecchie is perhaps the longest arcaded façade in the world and certainly shows the least amount of wall space; the whole design is simple, the moulding and ornamentation severe. The Procuratie Nuove, which after all is merely Scamozzi’s continuation of Sansovino’s library, displays all the richness of that ornate building.
Among the churches of this period we may mention San Geminiano, designed by Sansovino, and destroyed at the beginning of the 19th century to make room for the ball-room built by Napoleon for Eugene Beauharnais.
The churches of San Giorgio Maggiore and of the Redentore, a votive church for liberation from the plague, are both by Palladio. In 1632 Baldassare Longhena built the fine church of Santa Maria della Salute, also a votive church, erected by the state to commemorate the cessation of the plague of 1630. This noble pile, with a large and handsome dome, a secondary cupola over the altar, and a striking portal and flight of steps, occupies one of the most conspicuous sites in Venice on the point of land that separates the mouth of the Guidecca from the Grand Canal. In plan it is an octagon with chapels projecting one on each side. The volute buttresses, each crowned with a statue, add quaintly but happily to the general effect. After Longhena’s date church architecture in Venice declined upon the dubious taste of baroque; the façades of San Moisè and of  Santa Maria del Giglio are good specimens of this style. The palaces of the later Renaissance are numerous and frequently grandiose though frigid in design. The more remarkable are Sansovino’s Palazzo Corner, Longhena’s massive and imposing Palazzo Pesaro, the Palazzo Rezzonico, designed by Longhena with the third storey added by Mássari, Sammicheli’s Palázzo Corner at San Polo, and Massari’s well-proportioned and dignified Palazzo Grassi at San Samuele, built in 1740.

NOVAK 9. ENTRANCE OF A HOUSE, PARIS:
Paris began as a settlement on an island in the Seine (Île de la Cité) some 2,000 years ago. The first settlers were the Parisii, a Celtic tribe which clearly grew to be of some size: Julius Caesar dispatched 8,000 soldiers to subdue it in 52 BC. According to Caesar’s “Commentaries”, the Parisii burned down their settlement rather than surrender it to the Romans. But Caesar’s men re-built it and erected a wall around the dwellings. The Romans named the island Lutetia (“Midwater-Dwelling”). Under Roman rule Lutetia became rather impressive: by the 1st  century AD it extended to the Left Bank (the Latin Quarter) of the Seine and boasted a forum, amphitheatre and baths. The Romans renamed the settlement “Paris”. 

By the time of Philip II (1180-1223), Notre Dame had been built (1163) and the first guilds were in operation. Guild activities would soon dominate economic life and even social order, with artisans splitting into over 100 different trades and watched over by a prevot. One guild had a monopoly on river trade, and was able to demand taxes on goods that came down the Seine. Under Philip, the Roman walls were again restored and Les Halles was built as a warehouse where merchants could sell their goods. The king also built himself a new home—a chateau he called the Louvre—on the Right Bank. Paris developed into three distinct parts. The Left Bank attracted scholars to its great monasteries (St-Germain-des-Près and St-Geneviève) and became the intellectual district. The University of Paris was officially established there in the early 13th century. The Right Bank housed the city’s mercantile quarter and the Île de la Cité was the seat of city administration. The population of Paris swelled over the Middle Ages, as thousands flocked from all over France to this centre of growth and commercial activity.

Paris took centre stage in the religious wars between Roman Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants) in the 1560s. The Sorbonne, a stronghold of religious orthodoxy, advocated harsh measures to repress heresy. Many Parisians took up the battle cry with gruesome relish. On August 23rd, 1572 (St Bartholomew’s Day), 3,000 Huguenots were slaughtered in the city at the instigation of the Catholic Guise family. Catholics took the offensive again 16 years later, chasing Henry III out of Paris and forcing him to lay siege to his own city. Throughout the conflict Parisians mounted a defense against his eventual successor, Henry IV, a Huguenot. The city submitted to Henry IV only in 1594 following his conversion to Catholicism. He is reputed to have said: “Paris is well worth a mass!”  No other French monarch has been reviled as much as Henry III. The king’s behavior outraged Parisians, who branded him a homosexual and a practitioner of black magic. Although the latter is unlikely, the allegation that Henry was a homosexual—or at least a transvestite—is probably true. Henry IV (1589-1610) embarked on an energetic programme of building and improving the city. He oversaw building work on the Tuileries, the great gallery of the Louvre, the Hôtel de Ville, the Pont Neuf and the Place Royale (now called the Place des Vosges). He was also responsible for laying out Paris’s first geometric squares. Mansions for the wealthy sprang up in the Marais district.Francois Ravaillac, a Catholic fanatic, killed Henry IV in 1610. Ravaillac’s punishment was severe. He was burnt with red-hot pincers, boiled in hot oil, and then had his arms and legs attached to horses moving in different directions. Under Louis XIV (1643-1715) and Jean-Baptiste Colbert, his clever minister of finance, Parisians saw some improvements to their city. Although the king detested Paris and preferred to reside at Versailles, he allowed Colbert to build boulevards 
(the Champs-Elysées) and fine squares (Place Vendômes and Place des Victoires), and take control of the city’s administration. In 1631 Paris got its first newspaper, La Gazette. A daily paper, Le Journal de la ville de Paris, followed in 1672. The arts were covered by Le Mercure galant, a literary journal. During this period, Parisian theatre flourished. Moliere's satirical farces vied for audiences and royal favour with Racine’s tragedies.  But throughout the Enlightenment era, poverty in Paris grew more desperate. By 1637 the population had exceeded 400,000. Inner-city streets were congested and insanitary, filled with cramped tenements. In 1749 Voltaire called for water fountains, wider roads and more public buildings, but no action was taken. Equally punishing, the hated Wall of the Farmers General – a defensive cordon which levied taxes on all goods entering the city – was built around Paris in 1786. 

During the 18th century wealthy Parisians became infatuated with experimental science. Among them was the abbé Jean-Antoine Nollet, a physicist. In 1746 Nollet used iron wire to connect a line of 700 Carthusian monks. When Nollet discharged his Leyden Jar (a device for storing static electricity), the shocked monks reportedly simultaneously leapt into the air. Although these problems didn’t directly cause the revolution of 1789, there is little doubt that Parisian dissatisfaction drove it forward. It was, after all, Parisians who stormed the Bastille on July 14th and Parisians who guillotined the French king on January 21st 1793. During the Terror which followed the execution of Louise XVI, some 20,000 Parisians went under the guillotine, titles were abolished and churches were destroyed. In 1799 Parisians launched the coup that put Napoléon Bonaparte in control.  Bonaparte was crowned Emperor in Notre Dame cathedral, established a court at the Tuileries and oversaw the building of the Pont des Arts, the Bourse, the Rue de Rivoli and the Ourcq canal. He built the Arc de Triomphe to commemorate his military victories and filled the Louvre with treasures looted during his wars. He also revamped the municipal bureaucracy. But Napoleon’s ambitions extended far beyond improving Paris. Indeed, his zealous expansionism over-stretched the French army and finally proved his downfall. Early 19th-century Paris experienced a population boom. Between 1815 and 1851 France’s population grew from 29m to 36m. This had a profound effect on the capital, for it was the cities that absorbed the thousands of migrants unable to find work in the countryside. Industrialization, which had started under Napoleon, promised to ease the strain. Paris acquired gas lighting, an omnibus service and its first railway (in 1837). In the 1830s the city was also the scene of frequent struggles between monarchists and republicans. In July 1830 1,800 people died in street fighting that lasted for three days (known as les trois glorieuses), after the would-be absolutist King Charles X and his first minister, Prince Polignac, dissolved the legislative Chamber and ordered an end to the free press. Although this was a working-class revolution, the most notable beneficiary was the Paris bourgeoisie. A new constitutional monarch, Louis-Philippe, was installed. He could be seen regularly strolling in the Tuileries gardens, sporting a top hat, tails and a green umbrella. His first minister, François Guizot, told Paris businessmen to “get rich and leave politics to me.” But there were simply not enough jobs to go round. Although Paris had 65,000 enterprises in 1848, only 7,000 of them had over ten employees. Unemployment and overcrowding created appalling living conditions. Only one in five houses had running water. In 1832 cholera wiped out some 20,000 Parisians. In 1848 a survey revealed that 65% of the city’s population were too poor to be taxed. Working conditions were abysmal, but strikes and trade unions were illegal. The plight of the poor was captured by two great novelists of the day, Honoré de Balzac and Victor Hugo. Revolution came once more in 1848, this time as part of a wave of republicanism sweeping Europe. In February citizens and insurrectionists, eventually strengthened by the defection of the National Guard, battled loyalist troops and forced King Louis-Philippe to flee the city and abdicate. A shaky Provisional Government was nervously declared, and the ensuing months saw bitter electoral and street battles between conservative, moderate and radical factions, revolving around the symbolic centre of the Hôtel de Ville. The worst conflict ranged over the six “June days” of 1848, which saw the killing, by metropolitan and provincial troops, of 4,000 working-class insurrectionists protesting at high unemployment and the dissolution of the National Workshops scheme. Many of the survivors were sent to labour camps in Algeria.

Into this chaos stepped Louis-Napoleon, the nephew of Napoléon Bonaparte, who had just returned from virtual exile in London. He was soon elected President of the Republic and, when his term expired in December 1851, he carried out a relatively peaceful coup-d’état. A year later he declared himself Emperor Napoléon III, bringing an ignoble end to the Third Republic. Wary of further unrest in Paris, Napoléon III embarked on a major programme of public works. He appointed Baron Haussmann, a Protestant from Alsace, to carry out his plans. Haussmann drove 85 miles of boulevards through Paris’s cramped districts, lining them with government-designed houses and shops. Haussmann also overhauled the city’s long-neglected water supply and sewer system. By the end of the 2nd Empire tourists were flocking to visit the great sewer, which Haussmann dubbed his “Cloaca Maxima”.Napoléon III created some of Paris’s most famous landmarks and parks. The Bois de Boulogne, a royal forest, in the west, and the Bois de Vincennes, in the south-east, gave the city green spaces. The Gare du Nord and Gare de L’Est, two large railway stations were opened. This Paris remained physically more or less unchanged until the second world war. Until 1870 Parisians tossed their rubbish onto the streets for collection the following morning. When a city prefect named Poubelle demanded that landlords should provide containers for this refuse in 1884, they responded by naming them “poubelle” in his honour. The word has stuck and is now used by French people to mean a dustbin. In 1870 Napoléon III blundered into a war against Prussia. The over-confident and disorganized French army was quickly routed, and Napoléon—together with some 83,000 troops—was captured on September 2nd and deposed. Resistance continued under a new Republican government in Paris. On September 19th Bismarck’s army surrounded and laid siege to the city. As food supplies ran out, conditions in the city degenerated. Hundreds died of starvation during the harsh winter of 1870-71. A 23-night-long bombardment further dented morale, killing and injuring some 400 Parisians. Some historians have noted that the rich suffered little during the siege. There was no shortage of wine, and restaurants continued to serve the wealthy, who occasionally had to make do with dishes containing elephant (from the zoo) or rat. On January 28th 1871 Paris finally surrendered. A royalist-dominated National Assembly was elected to negotiate peace. This alarmed Republicans, who feared a restoration of the monarchy. Thus, the Paris Commune was established, and this revolutionary municipal government ruled the city for 72 days. Its downfall came after seven days of street battles between the Communards and government troops, which left 20,000 insurrectionists dead. Arson attacks by both sides destroyed many of Paris’s landmarks including the Hôtel de Ville and the Tuileries Palace. The destruction was so striking that Thomas Cook organised tours of British visitors to Paris to view the damage. Given the damage inflicted upon it during the days of the Commune, Paris recovered remarkably quickly. The glorious achievements of the late-19th century in culture, art and literature earned this period the name La Belle Époque. The Paris Opéra (1875), Trocadéro (1878), the Tour Eiffel (1889) and an underground railway system all opened during this period. Customers flocked to the new department stores (grands magasins) lining the boulevards: Galeries Lafayette, Au Printemps and Samaritaine. The pioneering work of Louis Pasteur, a bacteriologist, and the physicists Pierre and Marie Curie put the University of Paris in the spotlight. Advances were made in a then-primitive technology known as the cinema. Artists and writers, French and foreign, made Paris their home. Among these were the founders of Cubism, Impressionism and Fauvism, and many avant-garde poets and writers such as Apollinaire, Laforgue and Max Jacob. The carefree spirit of the 1890s was captured by the can-can dancers at the Moulin Rouge, which opened in 1889. 

The first world war brought the Belle Époque to an abrupt close. In September 1914, German armies came within 15 miles of Paris. The French held them off, using taxis to shuttle troops from Paris to the front line (and earning the name “taxicab army”). Post-war peace conventions were held in the French capital, and the body of an unknown solider was entombed beneath the Arc de Triomphe in 1919.In the aftermath of the war and during the Depression, Paris became a hotbed of radical politics. By 1935 over 400,000 people were unemployed. The French Communist Party and far-right Fascist groups thrived in the fraught economic climate. In 1934 Léon Blum (later the first socialist French premier) narrowly escaped being lynched by Fascist rioters outside the Chamber of Deputies. As the population continued to grow, under-funded city services began to struggle and urban decay set in. In June 1940 the German army, fresh from invading Belgium and the Netherlands, entered Paris. Nazi soldiers marched down the Champs Elysée and raised the Swastika flag at the Hôtel de Ville. The French army was too overwhelmed to try to defend the city. Hundreds of thousands of Parisians fled. Luckily, Paris escaped destruction during the occupation: Hitler was reluctant to damage the city (“Wasn’t Paris beautiful?” he remarked at the end of a brief visit). A hardy underground resistance movement emerged to assist with the Liberation in August 1944. On August 25 General de Gaulle took charge of Paris. 

Like so many other European cities, Paris suffered from chronic post-war housing shortages. Of the 17 slum areas designed for clearance by Baron Haussmann, most were still intact in the 1950s. Shantytowns grew up in the Parisian suburbs to house war refugees. In 1962 the French colony of Algeria gained independence and nearly 1million African immigrants flooded into France. In 1961 Parisian police shot at a crowd of Algerian civil rights demonstrators. The unofficial death toll was later revealed to be around 300.In the 1960s Greater Paris had a population of around 7m. Better urban planning became essential. In an effort to ease congestion and over crowding in central Paris, de Gaulle’s administration oversaw the development of suburbs (cité jardins) and encouraged industrial firms to re locate. Small-scale industries, such as haute couture and jewellery- and furniture-making, continued to flourish in the city. Paris got its first skyscraper in 1973. At 56 storey's high, the Tour Montparnasse was the tallest building in Europe at the time. A ring road was built (périphérique), the metro was extended and public buildings were cleaned up. By 1976 over 7m of the city’s 9m inhabitants lived in surrounding suburbs. On the outskirts of Paris, vast housing estates (grand ensembles), were built to accommodate up to 10,000 families. Education however, remained badly overstretched, with overcrowded facilities and inefficient administration. Student discontent was expressed in les événements of May 1968. This student uprising, which began in the Latin Quarter, spread across the country and led to a general strike by 9m workers. Improvements to the city centre continued: the Centre Georges Pompidou, designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano opened in 1977. Under Jacques Chirac, mayor of Paris at the time, the Gare d’Orsay was successfully transformed into an art gallery. A socialist president, Francois Mitterrand, came to power in 1981. He oversaw the building of I.M. Pei’s striking glass pyramid and at the entrance of the Louvre and moved the Ministry of Finance to Bercy in eastern Paris. The strong economy of the late 1990s brought unemployment below 10%.


NOVAK 11.  HYDE PARK IN LONDON:  Oxford Street leads to Marble Arch (originally intended as a monument to Nelson) formerly erected in 1828 by John Nash before Buckingham Palace, but as proved-owing to an error in the plans-too small for the state coach to pass beneath it, it was in 1851 moved to its present position where it formed an entrance to Hyde Park. Hyde Park is the largest and most central of the chain of parks, stretches from Whitehall to Kensington, covers an area of some 275 acres, is five miles round and provides an agreeable and shady walk of nearly three miles across. Until the time of James I it was still the deer park that Henry VII had made it, but Charles I laid out the ring, which became the setting for the fashionable world of their carriages. It was later the scene of duels and the haunt of cut-throats, but during the reign of George II, Queen Caroline caused it to be turned into the pleasant rural park it is today: she added the Serpentine Lake (100 acres: in summer there is bathing at the Lido) in 1733. Rotten Row, once a race-course, is a sandy track reserved solely for horsemen. Kensington Gardens is joined to Hyde Park on the West and its green expense of 270 acres, covered with tall shady trees, conveys the impression of being deep in the country rather than in the heart of one of the largest cities in the world. Admirers of James Barrie will wish to visit the statue of Peter Pan (George Frampton) on the W. bank of the Long Water (as the upper part of the Serpentine is known). In the S. of the park are the Dutch gardens. On the W. side of Kensington Gardens stands the Kensington Palace, which in 1689 as Nottingham House was acquired by King William III. The S. façade and the N.-W. wing and the orangery were built by Wren who had been instructed by the King to convert it into another Versailles: the remaining portions are however later Georgian additions as it was never completed.  Until 1760 when George II died, it was a royal residence. Over the years, Hyde Park has developed a tradition of hosting both local and national events, celebrations and performances. There are links with the military through the presence of Knightsbridge barracks on its boundary and the continuing practice of firing Gun Salutes from the Parade Ground. The Serpentine Lake is much used for boating and swimming, and Rotten Row, the world famous riding track, was the first public road to be lit at night in England.  

NOVAK 12.  AT THE  CIRCUS IN PARIS:  The term "circus", meaning a large public entertainment featuring performing animals, clowns, feats of skill and daring, pageantry, etc. has its roots in the Roman word, circus, meaning a ring or circle. The Roman circus, however, was not so much of a fun place to perform. Often the star performers were eaten by lions, or killed in bloody combat. Originally designed as a sporting event where Roman soldiers could match their skills and prowess against one another in an olympian fashion it quickly evolved into pure carnage. The bloodier the spectacle the more popular it became. People killing people, animals killing animals, animals killing people. It reached its gruesome height under the Emperor Nero. With the final decline of the Roman Empire the event disappeared, but some of its terminology and legacy survived. Modern blood sports can trace their origins back to the Roman arena - bull fighting and cock fighting, for example. Words like circus, arena, and colosseum are Roman terms to describe a place of mass entertainment.
With the decline of the Roman Empire many of its former vassal states, like Britain, were left defenseless and unable to protect themselves from invasions from aggressive peoples such as the Saxons, Jutes, Angles, and, later, the Vikings. Communications broke down and left small communities isolated - a period in European history known as the Dark Ages. Groups of traveling entertainers began appearing - going from village to village bringing news, singing songs, and telling stories, after the Saxon fashion. For many these travelers were the only source of information and became very popular. In England these performers were called "gleemen"; eventually known as minstrels. Later in the Middle Ages, after the 1066 invasion by the Normans, a new entertainer appeared - the jugglour or jongleur. They supplanted the minstrels in popularity, but, like the rest of the country, the Saxon and Norman performers soon combined their skills and language.
By the time of Queen Elizabeth I most of the earlier problems of invasion, turmoil, and isolation had been resolved and the country settled down to a more secure and prosperous life. Wandering vagabonds were seen as a threat and laws were passed to curtail their gypsy life. Minstrels and other traveling entertainers no longer had a place in Tudor society. They were equated with "Rogues, Vagabonds, and Sturdy Beggars". All were subject to punishment, but performers quickly adapted to this statute and the ever changing needs of developing communities. Instead of performing on street corners and village greens, they began working in new more permanent locations designed specifically for such events.
In the seventeenth century country fairs were a popular event with the English populace. They became the major venue for performers to show off their skills. These fairs were not the well organized, smooth running operations we know today. They tended to be riotous and noisy events, and it took a rough and strong individual to be successful at them, but they provided the perfect forum for acrobats, jugglers, rope dancers, and bear trainers. Also, riding exhibitions became a regular feature.
At this time more permanent facilities became available for the performer. Many of these were adjacent to established enterprises such as Sadler's Wells - named for a Mr.Sadler who, in 1683, discovered a "medical" spring in his garden outside of London by the New River. Performers were encouraged to entertain his patrons in the garden and it is recorded that a well known rider, William Stokes, introduced performing horses to Sadler's Wells in the late 17th century. Today, of course, Sadler's Wells is a world famous Opera House. There were others but the first accredited circus building, and organized circus, had to wait until 1769.
Although by the middle of the 18th Century much of what is considered important to a circus was already in place, it took one man to put it all together in the correct environment to invent the modern circus. That man was one Philip Astley.
Astley was not born into a performing family. His father was a cabinet maker from Newcastle-Under-Lyme, England, and, from the time Philip was born, on January 8th, 1742, his future seemed to be assured - master cabinet maker and carpenter. However, he was not particularly interested in wood but was in love with horses. At the age of seventeen he borrowed a horse and joined the Fifteenth Dragoons as a rough rider and horse breaker. Two years later his regiment was sent overseas to serve under the King of Prussia where he proved his daring and bravery. At Hamburg he saved a horse that had fallen overboard from their ship; at Emsdorf he captured the enemy standard; at Warburg he saved the life of the wounded Duke of Brunswick. By 1766 he was Sergeant Major Astley, stood over 6 feet tall with a huge frame and booming voice that, along with his extrovert nature and daredevil reputation, made him a celebrity.
About this time he decided that he wanted to start a riding school to teach the nobility art d'equitation. Unfortunately he lacked the funding but heard of an innkeeper who had financed the purchase of his business with the proceeds of trick riding exhibitions. A perfect solution for a perfect equestrian. Thus, accompanied by his regimental commanders white charger, Gibraltar, which he had been presented with upon his discharge, he sort out an appropriate location to begin plying his vocation.
Islington, on the north side of London, was a large area dedicated to recreation and many riding masters, down on their luck, entertained there, demonstrating their skills to attract clients for their riding schools. When Astley arrived there he discovered he needed to learn the art of presenting a show, so he hired on as a horse breaker. During this period he purchased two more horses and got married to a horsewoman named "Petsy". In 1768 he moved to the south side of the Thames and set up his riding school - opening it with a demonstration of both his and his wife's riding skills. Shortly after he was charging 6 pence admission. With the profits made from this simple beginning he was able to purchase some land near Westminster bridge, and built the first circus building. Originally it was more an open field surrounded by a kind of covered grandstand. Later he covered the whole area with a roof.
Astley's greatest contribution to the modern circus was not so much combining his riding act with other performers (clowns, for example) but for the circus ring itself. Prior to Astley most riding exhibitions were presented in a linear fashion - the performer riding past his aud- ience as he performed a trick, then having to turn around, or ride back around the other side, before presenting the next trick. When Astley decided that a covered grandstand was needed he realized it would be more advantageous to both performer and audience if the rider worked in a circle. The rider could move from trick to trick without interruption and the people could see everything going on and a larger audience could attend as they sat all around the perform- ance arena. Also, as Astley discovered, by riding in a circle he could use the centrifugal force to aid his performance. With experimentation he discovered the optimum size of the ring to be 42 feet.
Charles Hughes, a former rider at Astleys, opened a competing company in 1782 - not too far from Astley's booming enterprise - much to the chagrin of Astley. Hughes needed a name for his company. Why he chose the name he did is open to debate - perhaps he was a scholar of ancient history, or, more likely, after the large circular track used for exercising horses in Hyde Park. Whatever the case, he called his company (drum roll!), "The Royal Circus".
Astley was responsible for introducing the circus into many European countries, and several cities established permanent circus buildings. In 1782, Astley opened Paris first circus, the Amphitheatre Anglois. The first circus in Russia was presented in 1793 at the royal palace in Saint Petersburg.
This new form of entertainment finally crossed the Atlantic when, on April 3rd, 1793, the first complete circus program was presented in a building on the southwest corner of 12th and Market streets, Philadelphia, by John Bill Ricketts. Ricketts, a British equestrian, went on to present circuses in New York and Boston, and the show continued, under varying names, through the first decade of the 19th century. George Washington saw a Ricketts show in 1797 and sold them a horse.
The early traveling shows were very simple - in contrast to the flashy city