The Doge

 The Doges' Palace, which Ruskin called “the central building of the World”, was the official residence of the Dukes of Venice, and the seat of the Venetian governing institutions, from the 9thC until the fall of the Republic in 1797. The airy, graceful structure of the Palace celebrates the unique political stability of Venice., governed according to a complex system of checks and balances that restricted the power of individuals, and prevented the factional rivalries.

The Doge's Palace, Venice, has facades which date from 1309-1424, designed by Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon. The palace, started in the ninth century, several times rebuilt, and completed in the Renaissance period, forms part of that great scheme of town-planning which was carried out through successive centuries. The façades, with a total length of nearly 152 m (500 ft), have open arcades in the two lower storeys, and the third storey was rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century, so as to extend over the arcades. This upper storey is faced with white and rose-coloured marble, resembling ornate windows and finished with a lace-like parapet of oriental cresting.

You'll be overwhelmed by the multitude of paintings that cover the walls, broadcasting the image of Venice as the Most Serene Republic, an ideal State whose enduring independence was taken as a sign of divine favor.

The Church of Saint Mark was built in 829, and rebuilt in 1063, to enshrine the body of the Evangelist and was the Doges' Chapel, and the Church of the State for almost a millennium. Its walls are encrusted with almost 3 square miles of magnificent mosaics, rare marbles and carvings.