Bucentaur
Encyclopedia
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
. It was used every year on Ascension Day up to 1798 to take the doge out to the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
to perform the "Marriage of the Adriatic" – more accurately, "Marriage of the Sea" – a ceremony that symbolically wedded Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
to the sea every year on the "Festa della Sensa" (Ascension Day).
Scholars believe there were four major barges, the first significant bucentaur having been built in 1311. The last and most magnificent of the historic bucentaurs made its maiden voyage in 1729 in the reign of Doge Alvise III Sebastiano Mocenigo
Sebastiano Mocenigo
Alvise III Sebastiano Mocenigo was doge of Venice from 1722 to 1732.-Notes and references:...
. Depicted in paintings by Canaletto
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal better known as Canaletto , was a Venetian painter famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching.- Early career :...
and Francesco Guardi
Francesco Guardi
Francesco Lazzaro Guardi was a Venetian painter of veduta, a member of the Venetian School. He is considered to be among the last practitioners, along with his brothers, of the classic Venetian school of painting....
, the ship was 35 m (114.8 ft) long and more than 8 metres (26.2 ft) high. A two-deck floating palace, its main salon had a seating capacity of 90. The doge's throne was in the stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
, and the prow
Prow
thumb|right|295pxThe prow is the forward most part of a ship's bow that cuts through the water. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline. The terms prow and bow are often used interchangeably to describe the most forward part of a ship and its surrounding parts...
bore a figurehead
Figurehead
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...
representing Justice
Lady Justice
Lady Justice |Dike]]) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.-Depiction:The personification of justice balancing the scales of truth and fairness dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later...
with sword and scales. The barge was propelled by 168 oarsmen, and another 40 sailors were required to man it. The ship was destroyed in 1798 on Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
's orders to symbolize his victory in conquering Venice.
In February 2008, the Fondazione Bucintoro announced a €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
20 million project to rebuild the 1729 bucentaur. Work started on 15 March 2008 at the Arsenale
Venetian Arsenal
The Venetian Arsenal was a complex of state-owned shipyards and armories clustered together in Venice in northern Italy. It was responsible for the bulk of Venice's naval power during the middle part of the second millennium AD...
shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
and naval dock.
Origin of the name
The origin of the name bucintoro is obscure, but one possibility is that it is derived from the VenetianVenetian language
Venetian or Venetan is a Romance language spoken as a native language by over two million people, mostly in the Veneto region of Italy, where of five million inhabitants almost all can understand it. It is sometimes spoken and often well understood outside Veneto, in Trentino, Friuli, Venezia...
burcio, a traditional term for a lagoon vessel, and in oro, meaning covered in gold. On the other hand, man of letters Francesco Sansovino
Francesco Sansovino
Francesco Tatti da Sansovino was a versatile Italian scholar and man of letters, also known as a publisher. He was born in Rome, the son of Jacopo Sansovino, but soon moved to Venice then studied law at Padua and Bologna....
(1521–1586) proposed, based on documents dating from 1293, that it was named after an earlier boat built at the Arsenale
Venetian Arsenal
The Venetian Arsenal was a complex of state-owned shipyards and armories clustered together in Venice in northern Italy. It was responsible for the bulk of Venice's naval power during the middle part of the second millennium AD...
shipyard
Shipyard
Shipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
called the Navilium Duecentorum Hominum (Of Two Hundred Naval Men). It has also been suggested that the vessel was named after the ship Centaurus referred to by Virgil
Virgil
Publius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
when describing the funeral rites observed by Aeneas
Aeneas
Aeneas , in Greco-Roman mythology, was a Trojan hero, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite. His father was the second cousin of King Priam of Troy, making Aeneas Priam's second cousin, once removed. The journey of Aeneas from Troy , which led to the founding a hamlet south of...
to honour his father's death; the bucentaur was twice the size of the ship mentioned in the Aeneid
Aeneid
The Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
. The name may also refer to trumpets and horns that were played on board. The term bucintoro was Latinized
Latinisation (literature)
Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly met with for historical personal names, with toponyms, or for the standard binomial nomenclature of the life sciences. It goes further than Romanisation, which is the writing of a word in the Latin alphabet...
in the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
as bucentaurus on the analogy of an alleged Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
word βουκένταυρος (boukentauros) meaning "ox-centaur
Centaur
In Greek mythology, a centaur or hippocentaur is a member of a composite race of creatures, part human and part horse...
", from βους (bous, "ox") and κένταυρος (kentauros, "centaur"). The common supposition was that the name derived from a creature of a man with the head of an ox, a figure of which served as the galley's figurehead
Figurehead
A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and 19th century.-History:Although earlier ships had often had some form of bow ornamentation A figurehead is a carved wooden decoration found at the prow of ships largely made between the 16th and...
. This derivation is, however, fanciful; the word βουκένταυρος is unknown in Greek mythology
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, and representations of the "figurehead" of the bucentaurs in fact depict the lion of St. Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist
Mark the Evangelist is the traditional author of the Gospel of Mark. He is one of the Seventy Disciples of Christ, and the founder of the Church of Alexandria, one of the original four main sees of Christianity....
.
The name "bucentaur" seems, indeed, to have been given to any great and sumptuous Venetian galley. Du Cange
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange
Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange or Ducange was a distinguished philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium....
quotes from the chronicle of the Doge
Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice , often mistranslated Duke was the chief magistrate and leader of the Most Serene Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy. Commonly the person selected as Doge was the shrewdest elder in the city...
Andrea Dandolo
Andrea Dandolo
Andrea Dandolo was elected the 54th doge of Venice in 1343, replacing Bartolomeo Gradenigo who died in late 1342....
(reigned 1343–1354): "... cum uno artificioso et solemni Bucentauro, super quo venit usque ad S. Clementem, quo jam pervenerat principalior et solemnior Bucentaurus cum consiliariis, &c [... with a well-wrought and stately Bucentaur, upon which he came to San Clemente, where a more important and more stately Bucentaur had already arrived with his advisors, etc. ...]".
The vessels
Before the age of the bucentaurs, it is probable that for ceremonies in the Venetian LagoonVenetian Lagoon
The Venetian Lagoon is the enclosed bay of the Adriatic Sea in which the city of Venice is situated. Its name in the Venetian language, Laguna Veneta— cognate of Latin lacus, "lake"— has provided the international name for an enclosed, shallow embayment of saltwater, a lagoon.The Venetian Lagoon...
the doge was simply assigned a small galley from the Venetian naval fleet. As Venice's wealth increased due to its naval power, plans were made for a special ship to be built. This is evidenced by the promissioni – sacramental pledges spoken by the doges when they were sworn into office – of Reniero Zeno
Reniero Zeno
thumb|Coat of Arms of Reniero Zeno.Reniero Zeno was the 45th Doge of Venice, reigning from January 1, 1253 until his death in 1268.-Life:...
of 1252, Lorenzo Tiepolo
Lorenzo Tiepolo
Lorenzo Tiepolo was Doge of Venice from 1268 until his death.Born in Venice, Lorenzo Tiepolo was the son of Doge Jacopo Tiepolo. It is a matter of debate if his second wife, Marguerite, was either the daughter of the King of Romania or of Bohemund of Brienne, ruler of Rascia...
of 1268 and Giovanni Soranzo of 1312 which mention the construction of a bucentaur in the Arsenale shipyard and naval depot.
The 1311 bucentaur
Venetian scholars agree that four major barges were built. While there are believed to have been earlier vessels, the bucentaur of 1311 is regarded as the first significant one, for on 17 August 1311 the promissione was amended to add the statement "quod Bucentaurus Domini ducis fiat per Dominium et teneatur in Arsenatu" ("... that a Bucentaur should be made for the Lord Doge for his rule, and it should be held in the Arsenale"). This was the first time that Venetian law had provided that the expense of building the bucentaur was to be borne by the public budget. The two-deckedDeck (ship)
A deck is a permanent covering over a compartment or a hull of a ship. On a boat or ship, the primary deck is the horizontal structure which forms the 'roof' for the hull, which both strengthens the hull and serves as the primary working surface...
bucentaur had a tiemo (canopy) with two sections, one in purple velvet for the doge, the other in red velvet for Venetian nobles. The historian Marino Sanuto the Younger
Marino Sanuto the Younger
----Marin Sanudo, italianised in Marino Sanuto or Sanuto the Younger was a Venetian historian.He was the son of the senator Leonardo Sanuto. Left an orphan at the age of ten, he lost his fortune owing to the bad management of his guardian, and was for many years hampered by want of means...
, in his work De origine, situ et magistratibus urbis Venetae (On the Origin, Site and Officials of the City of Venice), also described the ship as bearing a sculpture of Justice
Lady Justice
Lady Justice |Dike]]) is an allegorical personification of the moral force in judicial systems.-Depiction:The personification of justice balancing the scales of truth and fairness dates back to the Goddess Maat, and later Isis, of ancient Egypt. The Hellenic deities Themis and Dike were later...
.
The bucentaur was used not only for the Marriage of the Sea ceremony, but also for other state functions such as festivals celebrating the Virgin Mary
Mary (mother of Jesus)
Mary , commonly referred to as "Saint Mary", "Mother Mary", the "Virgin Mary", the "Blessed Virgin Mary", or "Mary, Mother of God", was a Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee...
and the bearing of newly crowned dogaressas (the wives of doges) to the Doge's Palace. On 6 May 1401, a law was passed to prohibit the doge from making private use of the bucentaur.
Documents mention the construction of another bucentaur in 1449 larger than the 1311 one, but little is known about this vessel. The earliest known image of a bucentaur appeared in Jacopo de' Barbari
Jacopo de' Barbari
Jacopo de' Barbari, sometimes known or referred to as de'Barbari, de Barberi, de Barbari, Barbaro, Barberino, Barbarigo or Barberigo , was an Italian painter and printmaker with a highly individual style. He moved from Venice to Germany in 1500, thus becoming the first Italian Renaissance artist...
's monumental woodcut
Woodcut
Woodcut—occasionally known as xylography—is a relief printing artistic technique in printmaking in which an image is carved into the surface of a block of wood, with the printing parts remaining level with the surface while the non-printing parts are removed, typically with gouges...
Pianta di Venezia (Map of Venice) which was published in 1500. This work pictured a bucentaur afloat in the Arsenale without oars or decoration save for a large wooden sculpture of Justice in the bow. A similar illustration was produced by Andrea Valvassore between 1517 and 1525.
The 1526 bucentaur
On 10 May 1526, Marino Sanuto the Younger recorded that on "Ascension Day the serenissimo [the Most Serene One – the doge] went in the new bucintoro to wed the sea", adding that "it was a beautiful work, larger and wider than the other one". The proportions and rich decoration of this Bucentaur, built in the reign of Doge Andrea GrittiAndrea Gritti
Andrea Gritti was the Doge of Venice from 1523 to 1538, following a distinguished diplomatic and military career.Gritti was born in Bardolino, near Verona. He spent much of his early life in Constantinople as a grain merchant, looking after Venetian interests...
, became the model for successive versions of the ship. It had two decks and 42 oars, and was adorned with figures of lions with a sculpture of Justice at the prow
Prow
thumb|right|295pxThe prow is the forward most part of a ship's bow that cuts through the water. The prow is the part of the bow above the waterline. The terms prow and bow are often used interchangeably to describe the most forward part of a ship and its surrounding parts...
(preserved in the Museum of Naval History in Venice). The movable canopy of the vessel was covered with red fabric on the outside, and blue fabric with gold stars inside.
This bucentaur was frequently referred to in Venetian chronicles. It was on the ship that on 15 July 1547 Henry II of France
Henry II of France
Henry II was King of France from 31 March 1547 until his death in 1559.-Early years:Henry was born in the royal Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, the son of Francis I and Claude, Duchess of Brittany .His father was captured at the Battle of Pavia in 1525 by his sworn enemy,...
was conveyed with the doge down the Grand Canal to the Ca' Foscari
Palazzo Foscari
Ca' Foscari, the palace of the Foscari family, is a Gothic building on the waterfront of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Built by the doge Francesco Foscari in 1453, is now the main seat of Ca' Foscari University of Venice....
where he stayed during his visit to Venice. The ship was also used to transport the newly crowned Dogaressa Morosina Morosini-Grimani
Morosina Morosini-Grimani
Morosina Morosini-Grimani , was a Venetian patrician. She was the Dogaressa of Venice from 1595 to 1606.Morosina Morosini-Grimani was the daughter of Andrea Morosini, a wealthy Venetian patrician. She was married in 1560 to Marino Grimani...
to the Doge's Palace on 4 May 1597. This event was the subject of numerous etchings and paintings by Giacomo Franco, Andrea Vicentino
Andrea Vicentino
Andrea Vicentino was an Italian painter of the late-Renaissance or Mannerist period. He was a pupil of the painter Giovanni Battista Maganza. Born in Vicenza, he was also known as Andrea Michieli or Michelli. He moved to Venice in the mid-1570s and registered in the “Fraglia” or guild of Venetian...
, Sebastian Vrancsx and anonymous artists.
The 1606 bucentaur
Ducat
The ducat is a gold coin that was used as a trade coin throughout Europe before World War I. Its weight is 3.4909 grams of .986 gold, which is 0.1107 troy ounce, actual gold weight...
s; although the existing one was still in service, experts regarded it as too old. The designer of the new ship is unknown, but he was selected from among the most qualified marangoni (ships' carpenters) of the Arsenale. The work was supervised by Marco Antonio Memmo, the sovraprovveditore (overseer of the provveditore
Provveditore
The Italian title provveditore or proveditore , "he who sees to things", was the style of various local district governors in the extensive, mainly maritime empire of the Venetian dogal republic...
) of the Arsenale. The new vessel was approved and praised by all on its maiden voyage to the Lido with the newly elected Doge Leonardo Donato on Ascension Day, 10 May 1606.
The third barge was modelled after its predecessors, its decorations influenced by late-Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
forms. Contemporary illustrations show that the sides of the bucentaur were covered by mythical figures of siren
Siren
In Greek mythology, the Sirens were three dangerous mermaid like creatures, portrayed as seductresses who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island. Roman poets placed them on an island called Sirenum scopuli...
s riding seahorses, and that the loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
s were supported by curved dolphins amongst intertwined garlands
Garland (decoration)
A garland is a decorative wreath or cord, used at festive occasions, which can be hung round a person's neck, or on inanimate objects like Christmas trees. Originally garlands were made of flowers or leaves.-Etymology:...
and scrollwork
Scrollwork
Scrollwork is an element of ornamentation and graphic design using a spiral. The name comes from by the supposed resemblance to the edge-on view of a rolled parchment scroll. "Scrollwork" is today mostly used in popular language for two-dimensional decorative flourishes and arabesques of all...
taking on the form of monstrous hydras
Lernaean Hydra
In Greek mythology, the Lernaean Hydra was an ancient nameless serpent-like chthonic water beast, with reptilian traits, that possessed many heads — the poets mention more heads than the vase-painters could paint, and for each head cut off it grew two more — and poisonous breath so virulent even...
extending from the ends of the two bow spurs. It was once believed that most of the wooden sculptures, including a large sculpture of Mars
Mars (mythology)
Mars was the Roman god of war and also an agricultural guardian, a combination characteristic of early Rome. He was second in importance only to Jupiter, and he was the most prominent of the military gods worshipped by the Roman legions...
, two lions of St. Mark positioned on either side of the stern
Stern
The stern is the rear or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite of the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Originally, the term only referred to the aft port section...
, and the figurehead of Justice (dressed in apparel made by the San Daniele Monastery), were the work of the renowned Venetian sculptor Alessandro Vittoria
Alessandro Vittoria
Alessandro Vittoria was an Italian Mannerist sculptor of the Venetian school, "one of the main representatives of the Venetian classical style" and rivalling Giambologna as the foremost sculptors of the late 16th century in Italy....
, but research has revealed the names of the brothers Agostino and Marcantonio Vanini of Bassano who were praised as "authors of carvings of marvellous beauty". After more than a century of service, in 1719 a decision was made to demolish the ship.
The 1727 bucentaur
The last and most magnificent of the historic bucentaurs was commissioned by the Senate in 1719, and the construction of it began in the Arsenale in 1722. The ship was designed by Michele Stefano Conti, the protomagistro dei marangoni (head master of the ships' carpenters). Wooden sculpting work was assigned to Antonio CorradiniAntonio Corradini
Antonio Corradini was a Venetian Rococo sculptor.Corradini was born in Este and worked mainly in the Veneto, but also completed commissions for work outside Venice, including Naples....
, as was testified by the phrase "Antonii Coradini sculptoris Inventum" ("invention of the sculptor Antonio Corradini") inscribed near the bow palmette
Palmette
The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has an extremely long history, originating in Ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art of most of Eurasia, often in forms that bear...
. He was an established sculptor, having already worked on commissions in Austria, Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
and Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
. The gilding, in pure gold leaf
Gold leaf
right|thumb|250px|[[Burnishing]] gold leaf with an [[agate]] stone tool, during the water gilding processGold leaf is gold that has been hammered into extremely thin sheets and is often used for gilding. Gold leaf is available in a wide variety of karats and shades...
, was handled by one Zuanne D'Adamo. Some of the 1606 ship's ornaments and sculptures, including the sculpture of Mars and the two lions of St. Mark, were salvaged and reused. The vessel was 35 m (114.8 ft) long and more than 8 metres (26.2 ft) high. A two-deck floating palace, its main salon was covered in red velvet, had 48 windows set in a huge, elaborately carved baldacchino
Baldachin
A baldachin, or baldaquin , is a canopy of state over an altar or throne. It had its beginnings as a cloth canopy, but in other cases it is a sturdy, permanent architectural feature, particularly over high altars in cathedrals, where such a structure is more correctly called a ciborium when it is...
or canopy, and had a seating capacity of 90. The doge's throne was in the stern, and the prow bore the traditional figurehead representing Justice with sword and scales. The barge was propelled by 168 oarsmen rowing in teams of four on its 42 oars each 11 metres (36.1 ft) in length; another 40 sailors were required to man it. Only the most handsome and sturdy youths of the Arsenale were selected for the ship's crew. The new bucentaur made its début on Ascension Day 1729 in the reign of Doge Alvise III Sebastiano Mocenigo
Sebastiano Mocenigo
Alvise III Sebastiano Mocenigo was doge of Venice from 1722 to 1732.-Notes and references:...
. The event was officially recorded, and the splendour of the vessel praised with sonnet
Sonnet
A sonnet is one of several forms of poetry that originate in Europe, mainly Provence and Italy. A sonnet commonly has 14 lines. The term "sonnet" derives from the Occitan word sonet and the Italian word sonetto, both meaning "little song" or "little sound"...
s and publications such as that by Antonio Maria Lucchini entitled La Nuova regia su l'acque nel Bucintoro nuovamente eretto all'annua solenne funzione del giorno dell'Ascensione di Nostro Signore (The New Palace upon the Waters of the Newly Built Bucentaur at the Annual Solemn Function of the Day of the Ascension of Our Lord, 1751).
The German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer, pictorial artist, biologist, theoretical physicist, and polymath. He is considered the supreme genius of modern German literature. His works span the fields of poetry, drama, prose, philosophy, and science. His Faust has been called the greatest long...
, in his work Italienischen Reise
Italian Journey
Italian Journey is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786–7, published in 1816–7. The book is based on Goethe's diaries...
(Italian Journey, 1816–1817) which was an account of his travels in Italy between 1786 and 1787, described the bucentaur on 5 October 1786 in these terms:
In 1798, Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...
ordered this bucentaur to be destroyed, less for the sake of its golden decorations than as a political gesture to symbolize his victory in conquering the city. French soldiers broke up the carved wooden portions and the gold decorations of the ship into small pieces, carted them to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore
San Giorgio Maggiore
San Giorgio Maggiore is one of the islands of Venice, northern Italy, lying east of the Giudecca and south of the main island group. The isle is surrounded by Canale della Grazia, Canale della Giudecca, Saint Mark Basin, Canale di San Marco and the southern lagoon...
and set fire to them to recover the gold. The ship burned for three days, and French soldiers used 400 mules to carry away its gold. The decorative elements of the vessel that survived the flames are preserved in the Museo Civico Correr
Museo Correr
The Museo Correr is the civic museum of Venice, located in the Piazza San Marco, and is entered by the ceremonial stairway in the Ala Napoleonica at the western end of the Piazza opposite the church of San Marco at the other end...
in Venice, and there is a detailed scale model of the vessel in the Arsenale. The hull
Hull (watercraft)
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. Above the hull is the superstructure and/or deckhouse, where present. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.The structure of the hull varies depending on the vessel type...
survived and, renamed the Prama Hydra and armed with four cannons, was stationed at the mouth of the Lido's port where it served as a coastal battery
Artillery battery
In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...
. Subsequently, the ship was returned to the Arsenale and used as a prison ship
Prison ship
A prison ship, historically sometimes called a prison hulk, is a vessel used as a prison, often to hold convicts awaiting transportation to penal colonies. This practice was popular with the British government in the 18th and 19th centuries....
until it was entirely destroyed in 1824.
Marriage of the Sea ceremony
_002.jpg)
Pietro II Orseolo
Pietro II Orseolo was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009.He began the period of eastern expansion of Venice that lasted for the better part of 500 years...
's conquest of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, was originally one of supplication
Supplication
Supplication is the most common form of prayer, wherein a person asks God to provide something, either for the person or who is doing the praying or for someone else on whose behalf a prayer. This because of a supplication is being made, also known as intercession.The concept of supplication is...
and placation, Ascension Day being chosen as that on which the doge set out on his expedition. The form it took was a solemn procession of boats, headed by the doge's nave (ship), from 1311 the Bucentaur, out to sea by the Lido port. A prayer was offered that "for us and all who sail thereon the sea may be calm and quiet", whereupon the doge and the others were solemnly aspersed
Aspersion
Aspersion , in a religious context, is the act of sprinkling with water, especially holy water. Aspersion is a method used in baptism as an alternative to immersion or affusion...
with holy water
Holy water
Holy water is water that, in Catholicism, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheranism, Oriental Orthodoxy, and some other churches, has been sanctified by a priest for the purpose of baptism, the blessing of persons, places, and objects; or as a means of repelling evil.The use for baptism and...
, the rest of which was thrown into the sea while the priests chanted "Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor" ("Sprinkle me with hyssop
Ezov
Ezov is the Hebrew name of a plant mentioned in the Bible in the context of religious rituals. In some English-language Bibles, the word is transliterated as ezob....
, and I will be clean" – Psalm
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
51:7). To this ancient ceremony a quasi-sacrament
Sacrament
A sacrament is a sacred rite recognized as of particular importance and significance. There are various views on the existence and meaning of such rites.-General definitions and terms:...
al character was given by Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III
Pope Alexander III , born Rolando of Siena, was Pope from 1159 to 1181. He is noted in history for laying the foundation stone for the Notre Dame de Paris.-Church career:...
in 1177, in return for the services rendered by Venice in the struggle against the Holy Roman Emperor
Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...
Frederick I
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
. The pope drew a ring from his finger and, giving it to the doge, bade him cast such a one into the sea each year on Ascension Day, and so wed the sea. Henceforth the ceremonial, instead of placatory and expiatory, became nuptial
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
. Every year the doge dropped a consecrated ring into the sea, and with the Latin words "Desponsamus te, mare, in signum veri perpetuique domini" ("We wed thee, sea, in the sign of the true and everlasting Lord") declared Venice and the sea to be indissolubly one.
Modern reconstruction
In February 2008, plans to rebuild the bucentaur destroyed in 1798 were announced. More than 200 shipbuilders, woodcarvers and jewellers started work on 15 March 2008 at the Arsenale. It has been reported by the Italian press that it will take two years for the bucentaur to be constructed. However, Colonel Giorgio Paterno, the head of Fondazione Bucintoro which is behind the €Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
20 million project, said in March 2008 that "[w]e'll build it as fast as we can but we're not in a hurry." It is intended that the project will make use of traditional shipbuilding techniques and original materials, including larch
Larch
Larches are conifers in the genus Larix, in the family Pinaceae. Growing from 15 to 50m tall, they are native to much of the cooler temperate northern hemisphere, on lowlands in the north and high on mountains further south...
and fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
wood, and will reproduce gold decorations. The foundation is supported by businessmen in the Veneto
Veneto
Veneto is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about 5 million, ranking 5th in Italy.Veneto had been for more than a millennium an independent state, the Republic of Venice, until it was eventually annexed by Italy in 1866 after brief Austrian and French rule...
and Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
regions but has also written to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
for France to make a financial contribution as a goodwill gesture to compensate for Napoleon's "vandalism".
Fondazione Bucintoro hopes that the vessel will become "the most visited floating museum in the world", but also sees the project as a means to "help Venice recover its former glory and its old spirit". According to Paterno, "Invaded by so many million tourists, the city risks losing its identity, losing its cultural connection with its own history. It's not enough to live in the future, the city needs to connect with and remember its glorious past."
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See also
- History of the Republic of VeniceHistory of the Republic of VeniceThe history of the Republic of Venice traditionally begins with its foundation at noon on Friday March 25, 421 by authorities from Padua who hoped to establish a trading-post in the region. This event was marked by the founding of the Venitian church of St. James...
- Italy in the Middle AgesItaly in the Middle AgesThis is the history of Italy during the Middle Ages.- Transition from Late Antiquity :Italy was invaded by the Visigoths in the 5th century, and Rome was sacked by Alaric in 410. The last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustus, was deposed in 476 by an Eastern Germanic general, Odoacer...
Articles
- Franco, Giacomo (c. 1609), [Illustration from Habiti d'huomeni et donne venetiane [Dress of Venetian Men and Ladies]] in ..