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| Faces on buildings |
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| Tom and Rob admiring the building faces |
In this eighth blog about Italy, we'll show you some interesting faces on buildings in Venice and how Venice was constructed.
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| Head and torso of a woman as a doorknob |
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| A mural from a wine maker, restored |
FACES ON BUILDINGS, DOORS - Buildings in Venice offered a lot of things to look at, architecturally. Some had faces on the walls, others on door knobs, and yet others on cornerstones. Most of the faces seemed to be non-human or perhaps images from Roman mythology.
MURALS ON BUILDINGS - We were told by one of our tour guides
that some of the homes (especially on the Grand Canal) had murals or
frescos on the front of the buildings. They were either paintings or
done in tile and most have since worn off from weather over the
centuries. If you look at the photo below, you'll be able to see a hint
of a mural, now very, very faded
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| A worn out mural on a building face |
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| typical flooding on a walkway |
CONSTRUCTING VENICE - DID YOU KNOW? The city of Venice
was built in the early 1500's A.D. on a collection of 117 low islands
at the center of a lagoon. According to http://illumin.usc.edu, In order
to build a city above the water, early architects had to build
stable foundations that were sunk deep into a bed of compounded silt and
sand called subsoil. The construction material of choice for these
foundations was wood stakes from native alder trees. Wood made an ideal
foundation material because the submerged wood was
not exposed to air, which inhibited deterioration and rotting. In
addition, the wood provided a strong, yet flexible support that could
resist the constant movement of the tides. For more about the city and
its sinking problem,
click for an article from the University of Southern California.
COMING NEXT: Venetian Tour Guide Book Recommendation: Dan Brown's Inferno
THEN: Tom's Favorite Shop, Mozart Played Here, and a "Phoenix-like" Opera House
CONSTRUCTING VENICE - DID YOU KNOW? The city of Venice
was built in the early 1500's A.D. on a collection of 117 low islands
at the center of a lagoon. According to http://illumin.usc.edu, In order
to build a city above the water, early architects had to build
stable foundations that were sunk deep into a bed of compounded silt and
sand called subsoil. The construction material of choice for these
foundations was wood stakes from native alder trees. Wood made an ideal
foundation material because the submerged wood was
not exposed to air, which inhibited deterioration and rotting. In
addition, the wood provided a strong, yet flexible support that could
resist the constant movement of the tides. For more about the city and
its sinking problem, click for an article from the University of Southern California. 
COMING NEXT: Venetian Tour Guide Book Recommendation: Dan Brown's Inferno
