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History of Venice
History of
Venice is wrapped in mystery and paradoxes. In
1204 after the breakdown of the Byzantine Empire,
having withstood the attempts of the Carolings’
conquest and having consolidated communal
institutions in 1141, the small duchy became a
mediterranean power as strong as a colonial
empire. It enjoyed two centuries of prosperity
chanted by the equable sound of the flow, carrying
the murchant ships from the Orient to the
Occident. However, in the beginnig of the XV
century Venice abandoned its maritime economics
for the sake of conquests and land aquisition in
Italy. Then the three-centuries-long period of
decline began, during which the selfish and
languid governing classes of the property
owners
and the rentiers in order to preserve the power
had to maintain an expensive neutrality amid the
conflicts of the great monarchic dynasties of the
XVII and XVIII centuries.
The Art of Venice
The St.Mark Place is a real core of Venice. It is
surrouned by the Saint Mark basilica nameworthy
for its towers, affording a magnificent panoramic
view and its fabulous medieval mosaics. The famous
Ducal Palace (Pallazzo Ducale) remarkable for its
gothic
facade and its splendid halls of the 15th century,
decorated by such maîtres as Tintoretto and
Veronese. In Venice one can possibly find various
architecture styles: byzantine, gothic,
renaissance, baroque – unisonous, they make the
city a single unity. Another highlight of Venice
attracting the tourists pari passu with the
St.Mark Place is the Rialto bridge, a real perl of
Venice built in the 16th century is situated
nearby the Ducal Palace. This is the place of a
handicraftsmen’s fair, but you can also come
across haberdasheries and numerous commercial
side-streets, profitting by the tourists
collecting souvenirs. The passage Rialto debouches
into the marvelous Pescheria where the cats and
the pigeons seem to get on well with each other.
It is essential to saunter here for across the
Grand Canal you will not find this particular
venetian atmoshere of handicrafts. During the
Renaissance the city of Venice became more
beautiful owing to the work of such great artists
as Bellini, Carpoccio, Giogione and Veronese. They
created their masterpices due to the help of the
celebrated maecenas - the doges, the aristocracy,
and various creative and religious organisations
spending fortunes i n
order to have their palaces decorated.
Nowadays the economics of Venice is directed to
tourism after several fruitless efforts to develop
industry in the last century. That is why the
population of Venice has decreased from 150 000 to
40 000 people since 1950. Venice has become a huge
museam visited by ten millions of visitors
annualy, reconing 200 tourists per a resident...
Implausible ! However it is not difficult to find
a quiet place here. Venice is paradise for hikers,
it offers numerous peaceful lover’s lanes, narrow
streets and quiet channels in the remote from the
tourists places.
Venice is a surpassing place, incomparable, a
place where all your dreams come true may you be
eager to have an unforgetable promenade in
gondole, or to organize and enjoy the week-end
with your sweetheart or your family, profitting
the attractive price.
There is something particulary attractive in the
atmoshere of the phenomena of "high tide", when
the water exceeds maximum level and overflows the
principal streets and places of Venice. Owing to
this reason Venice is a most attractive place for
tourists in the world.
If you want to get to know Venice, you should not
be limited by visiting the St.Mark Place, the
Grand Canal, the basilica St.Mark, the Rialto
Bridge, etc., but you ought to plunge into its
culture, calli and campielli, enter its enigmatic
world, where one spends unforgettable days
suspended between art and history, between Orient
and Occident.
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