Campanile di San Marco

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Campanile di San Marco (St Mark's Campanile)
Piazza San Marco (St Mark's Square)
Venice, September 2012

“On 14th July 1902 the campanile suddenly collapsed as a result of imprudent constructional work. The damage was not irreparable: the ‘proclamation stone’ at the corner of the church prevented collapse of the corner column, thus saving the church. The Balcony however was buried under the rubble. News of the collapse spread throughout the world and the Municipal Administration resolved that the Campanile should be rebuilt exactly as it had been. The first stone was laid on 25th April 1903 and nine years later, in 1912, on St. Mark's day, the new campanile was inaugurated. Externally the building was a faithful copy but was built, for greater safety and static stability, in accordance with the more rigorous laws on construction technique. Certain destroyed parts were reintegrated: on two sides of the dado above the belfry, alternated with the Justices, the two moving Lions in Istria stone replaced those sculpted at the time of the fall of the Republic, and the embossed copper statue of the Archangel Gabriel that topped the tower was recomposed with the original fragments and almost entirely redone, copying the old 1822 model.” (The Campanile, Basilica di san Marco)