Arsenale - a vaporetto stop and a museum

Some might have considered missing this tour, and they did. But they missed something special. The line for preview of the Biennale, and some fabulous ships.

Biennale is about to begin, and we are spotting installations everywhere - see separate post. Yesterday outside a cathedral we saw 20+ trees in pots, today they are gone! They were clearly in transit.

Although less 'uninterpretable' than most' modern art, with St Mark's Square Bell Tower across the water

Venice was a maritime power of the middle ages. Built on water, they became skilful sailors of the Mediterranean (west of Italy) and Adriatic (north east of Italy) seas. Their low bottomed boats were manoeuvrable, and they had both cargo boats and war ships. By the 1300s they had instituted an industrial sized assembly line for ships, that could assemble a war ship in 24 hours. How is this possible?

Clever Venetians prepared all the different parts in a sequence from the outer hull to the final fitting of mast and cannons. Every group of workers did just their job and no-one else's. They had 300m ropes laid out in a very long warehouse, woods pre-cut in a another warehouse, all the material for caulking hulls in another.

As they made bigger war ships they enlarged the factory! till there were 4 water basins (wrong word) around which the work was carried out. In the early centuries the oarsmen were professional Venetians, who rowed for 20 minutes then rested for 40 minutes. At times of war they were given weapons so they could fight as well. At this time in other states, slaves and criminals used to row (e.g. John Knox was sent to galleys for two years, probably did not improve his view of the world). Criminals could not be given weapons, and were often chained to their oars.

Here are some beautiful boats:

Model of the Doge's Gondola used for marriage ceremony 

The real Doge's Barge in another museum, last used in 1796/7

The Venetians have a quaint but important ceremony. Every year on the Feast of the Assumption (some-time in May?) the Doge is rowed out to the lagoon, and he throws a gold wedding ring into the waters. He says something like I marry thee, I marry thee, therefore I own you! This was begun in the early middle ages, and continued until Napoleon ended the Republic of Venice in 1797.

Although a very Catholic country, this was not a pagan ritual, but a recognition of the reliance of the state on the seas. We also saw many painting of storms, and near drownings, painted after the safe arrival home featuring Virgin Mary and sometimes others to whom they prayed at the time. These small (12 x12 inches about) pictures could be displayed in the home or the local church.