O swan of cities, water and sun brother!
Asleep, as in a nest, between the reeds, among the silt
The lagoons that nurtured and raised you, As all historians and guests say.
Henry Longfellow. Venice. Translation by V. V. Levik
Military museums in Europe. Probably, it just so happened in the course of historical development that in every more or less large city in Europe there is an "armory" or, at least, a set of medieval weapons and armor. And Venice, located in the middle of the lagoon, a city on islands, is also no exception. It also has its own Armory, which contains a valuable historical collection of weapons and armor of great interest. But here it is not in a museum or in a palace, but built in the 17th - 18th centuries, but inside the Palace of the Doges, the supreme rulers of the Venetian Republic, which began to be built somewhere in 1309, and finished more than a century later - in 1424! That is, this is a truly medieval building, and therefore the basis of its collection is also very old and documented as already existing in the XIV century. However, what is there to be surprised at? Times were not calm then, conspiracies were not uncommon, so even the supreme rulers of the republic had to have weapons at hand.
Therefore, it is not surprising that there was an armory of the palace next to the Hall of the Grand Council, so that in case of any "trouble" the members of the council could arm themselves in an instant and join the ranks of the defenders of the palace. And this is in addition to the actual security, which in case of a threat of attack must also be joined by the Arsenalotti - highly qualified workers from the shipyards of the Arsenal, which was nearby. So there were a lot of weapons in the palace then, of necessity, and they were kept in this room in perfect order. During the times of the Republic, the Council of Ten even appointed a special person in charge to check the condition of the weapons stored in it (this, by the way, to the question of why weapons and armor are not rusty in such museums!), And it was his responsibility to exchange with other collections and purchase of armor in the workshops of Belluno, Bergamo, Brescia and even from Nuremberg. The state of the weapon was also maintained by four special craftsmen who, from the 18th century, monitored its safety. Gradually, this "state museum", which was rich in donations, bequeathed inheritances and trophies of the war years, gathered a collection of various and sometimes amazing items. For example, there was a bowl made of horns, capable of recognizing poison in the contents poured into it, a huge silver lantern with rock crystal plates, silk clothes donated by the Japanese ambassador in 1585 along with a katana sword, a piece of golden velvet sent in 1600 the Persian shah, and even the painting "Saint Mark". The entrance to the armory rooms was protected by a massive cedar door, brought, regardless of all costs, from Lebanon in 1556.
Thefts, looting and requisitions of subsequent years significantly diminished the property of the Armory, but it still has more than two thousand different types of weapons and armor.
The fall of the Republic in 1797 (and it must be emphasized that the Doges had ruled Venice by this time for exactly 1100 years, from 697 to 1797) led to the fact that all the premises of the Armory were closed, and the objects in it were dumped in the basements … And for public viewing it was reopened only in 1923. Some of the paintings from it ended up in the Correr Museum, but all the weapons remained in the Doge's Palace.
Well, now that we have got acquainted with the history of the Armory of the Doge's Palace, let's arrange a small tour of the palace and try to take a good look at everything.
The entrance to the Doge's Palace is paid and costs 20 euros, and for some reason the card of the International Federation of Journalists is also invalid here. As in most museums in Russia. Well … However, there are big discounts for people over 65 and young people under 18, so stock up on pension certificates (who has) or passports in advance, and then the cost of visiting the palace will decrease many times for you, and for "children" will be completely free.
Architectural decoration of the courtyard. By the way, here is what is in front of us,
it is part of St. Mark's Cathedral, which is part of the courtyard of the Doge's Palace.
Inside the palace there is a large courtyard, from where you can admire its internal architecture and numerous sculptures, and then descend into the underground, where a whole forest of columns is exhibited, which in the past supported the palace's galleries. After the stifling Venetian heat, we just don't want to leave here, but we go up the stairs and start exploring the premises of the palace from the most unique - the Hall of the Grand Council - the largest hall without supports supporting its ceiling, not only in Venice, but throughout Italy. The dimensions of the hall are really impressive: 54 meters long, 25 meters wide, and 15 meters from floor to ceiling. The latter simply amazes with its splendor, it's just some kind of madness of carving, gilding and paintings. The hall is so large that it occupies the entire southern wing of the palace. However, there are so many rooms - one of which is more luxurious than the other, that all this luxury simply … dazzles in the eyes.
But … guided by the directional arrows, sooner or later you will definitely find yourself in the Armory, which consists of several rather large halls. They are again decorated in the best Venetian traditions”, that is, magnificently and even luxuriously, but … in the most traditional way, that is, all the exhibits are in glass cases. Therefore, it is generally impossible to examine the armor of the knights in detail here, and as for the weapon … it is very inconvenient to photograph it through glass. I had to read that many visitors were not allowed to take photographs in the halls. Personally, I did not have to face this, but nevertheless, compared to the same Armory in Vienna, it was extremely difficult to carry out the work of a photographer here, although the exhibits displayed here are really very interesting.
Here is room number 1, known as the "Room of Gattamellata", since it is in it that the armor of the famous condottiere Erasmo da Narni (1370-1443), who served the Venetian Republic and bore this unusual nickname, is located. After all, what it means, no one really knows until now. The point is that gatta is a cat, and melata is a honeycomb. And here's how you translate such a strange phrase? "Honey flowing cat"? A hint of … "trick", that this condottiere, they say, "lies sweetly, but hard to sleep"? Or is it a "honey-colored cat"? Because he wore a helmet decorated with a gilded cat figurine on his head? When da Narni became ruler of Padua in 1437, the famous Donatello sculpted his famous equestrian statue. However, it depicts Gattamelata with his head uncovered, which means that it is impossible to verify this statement.
In total, there are five horsemen in knightly armor in the glazed window of this hall, but only two of them are sitting on "real", that is, voluminous horses along with saddles and all other necessary ammunition. For the other three horse dummies, apparently not enough, and resourceful Italians put flat wooden figures in their place. Original, but poor and very … provincial. It seems to be such a rich museum, and such "poor figures".
