Oh ghostly city, where instead of streets there are rivers, Where, in the shaky depths, a pattern that always glides
From roofs, porticos, and boats, and walkways, It seems to me that he is about to disappear forever, Mirage: a distant fleet, leaving the vastness, Or a castle that rose for a moment from the clouds.
Henry Longfellow. Venice . Translation by V. V. Levik
Military museums in Europe. Last time we started our "journey" through the halls of the Venetian Naval History Museum. By the way, having received a ticket at the box office, in no case throw it away, it will give you the opportunity to visit one more building following the first - the "Hall of Ships". And we will also go there, but for now we will finish with the halls of the museum itself, because so far we have examined only a small part of them.
As already noted, there are a lot of models in the museum. Ancient sailing ships made entirely of wood, and modern warships two or three meters long. For example, the model of the battleship "Roma" ("Rome"), sunk by a German guided bomb at the very end of the war, looks very impressive. All of Asia is present, in a word, there is something to see for a ship modeler. However, the strongest impression here is made by the model, which can be seen only here! This is a model of the Bucentavr galley.
"Golden Galley" "Buchintoro"
Everyone knows that Venice got rich in transit trade between East and West. And the fact that beautiful ships for their time were built here - too. The craftsmen who worked at the Venetian shipyards were so experienced and skilled that the owners of state shipyards, for example, were forbidden to go to work for private owners, and the ship craftsmen were simply not allowed out of the city. All their secrets were to die with them. And, of course, the Venetians were well aware that they owe their well-being to the sea. So good that we even had an annual celebration of the betrothal to the sea! From the 12th century until 1798, the next doge of Venice came out into the lagoon on the gilded gallery "Buchintoro" ("Bucentaur") and threw a golden ring into the water with the words: "We will marry you, Sea". Therefore, it is not surprising that a whole hall is dedicated to the second floor of this museum of the Buchintoro gallery. Here is exhibited a perfectly executed model of this most luxurious and, unfortunately, the last "Butcentavr", which has not survived to our days, to our great regret. The very name of this vessel is translated as "Golden Barge", and the Venetians really did not spare gold for it. And that is why Napoleon's soldiers broke it in 1798. The Venetians managed to save and preserve only a few fragments of this vessel, which are exhibited here and in the Carrer Museum in St. Mark's Square. Well, the "Senso" holiday is held today, but in a modernized form, of course.
The model conveys all the luxury and splendor of this ship: at the stern was the throne of the Doge, and the bow was decorated with the figure of the goddess of justice with a sword and scales. Inside the spacious saloon on board the galley could accommodate 90 people, and it itself was trimmed with red velvet.
It is interesting that back in 2008 in Venice it was decided to create an exact copy of the famous doge's galley, and a corresponding fund was created. Its organizers appealed to the then French President Nicolas Sarkozy with a demand “as reparations” to reimburse part of the costs of its construction. The Times wrote on this occasion that the barbaric destruction of the galley is a "dark spot" on the history of the two countries and it would be good to erase it. It is planned to reproduce all the carvings and gold finishes of this unique vessel. At the same time, the total cost of the work is estimated at about 20 million euros. Which is not surprising. The vessel, after all, was not at all small: length 35.2 m, width - 7.5 m, number of oars 42, length of oar 10.6 m, there were 168 oarsmen on it.
Cannons and shotguns
In addition to models, there are a lot of natural exhibits in the museum, in particular the same cannons, cannonballs and shells. For example, it displays shells from huge sea cannons that were installed on battleships until 1879, when a 330-mm turret gun exploded on the battleship "Tanderer", twice charged by a servant by mistake. Moreover, these guns were rifled! And the projections for these grooves in the barrels were made on the shells themselves - first from zinc, then zinc was replaced with copper. Here you can see the uniforms of the officers of the Italian Navy: a collection of fine uniforms with epaulettes and ribbons. There are also several showcases with a set of absolutely fabulous guns of very large caliber, many of which have a bell at the end of the barrel. Usually, hunters are armed with these in cartoons about Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf. But such boarding rifles, from which they shot, putting them on board, actually existed. And they were charged with large shot, which flew out of the barrel in the form of a small cloud and hit several targets at once on the deck of an enemy ship!
Gondolas and gondoliers
What is Venice without gondolas and gondolier songs? Therefore, it is not surprising that a whole room is allocated to gondolas in the museum, and here you can see both their models and the life-size gondolas themselves. The history of the gondola is as long as the history of Venice. So, the legend claims that at first the gondolas were of different colors and sizes. But it so happened that a certain doge fell in love with a beauty, near whose house boats of various colors constantly appeared. Thus, to the doge's shame, the neighbors were aware of all her love affairs. And then he came up with the idea of repainting all the gondolas black in order to determine who was driving them - a baker, a doctor or another admirer, it was impossible! There is also a more realistic explanation - when the plague visited the city at the beginning of the 17th century, the gondolas carrying the corpses of the dead were repainted black. And since there were a lot of such gondolas, it was easier to paint black and all the others than to repaint again. And since there is nothing more permanent than temporary, this tradition of painting gondolas black remains.
Despite the fact that the gondolas have to swim in narrow channels, and their length is quite large, the gondolas have excellent maneuverability, and all because their hull … is not symmetrical! With a length of 11, 05 meters and a width of 140 centimeters, the left side of the gondola is always 24 centimeters longer than the right side. And the bow and stern are specially raised so that the area of contact of its bottom with water would be minimal, and it is easier for the rower to choose the direction of movement.
The technique of rowing on a gondola is also not at all simple. The gondolier does not push off from the water, but makes movements with an oar, creating a stream of water going back from the stern, respectively, the gondola itself floats forward! Allows you to row in this way the paddle lock, similar to an ingeniously curved rack, also wooden, and of a complex shape, which is called "forcola". It is she who allows the rower to change the position of the oar for unhurried forward movement, powerful and high-speed rowing, rotation in place and rotation of the boat, as well as its braking. The gondolier, without changing his position, can even make the gondola go in reverse!
To make the gondola both light and strong and durable, exactly nine types of wood and a special black varnish are used for its construction. All in all, the gondola consists of 280 parts, both wooden and metal, and it has been under construction for exactly six months. The profession of gondola builders is a family one, because you need to pay from 60 to 90 thousand euros for a high-quality gondola, and strangers are simply not allowed into this profitable business!
The nasal decoration of the gondola - "ferro" ("iron") is so called because it is forged from an iron sheet. Although the shape of the ferro has changed over the centuries, the purpose of its installation is always the same: it serves as a counterweight to the gondolier standing behind; and along it, the height of the bridges, under which the gondola can pass, is determined. The ferro has six projections, symbolizing the six districts of Venice.
The usual clothes of a gondolier are a straw hat and a striped vest, and they also sing wonderful songs called barcarolla (from the Italian "barque" - boat) ", although not all, and … for an additional fee!
Hall of Ships and other local attractions
Leaving the museum building, follow the same side of the street towards the wooden bridge at the gate across the canal. A door in the wall will lead you to the "Hall of Ships", where there are several life-size ships. There is also a piece of the steamer's hold with boilers and a steam engine, there are fishing boats with patchwork sails - in a word, a visit to this hall will be a very pleasant end to your excursion to the maritime museum for you. However, this is not all. After going a little further, you will find yourself near the only wooden bridge in Venice, and after crossing it, you will appear in front of the gates to the Arsenal building, near which a very decent collection of marble Venetian lions in various poses is lined up. By the way, why is it exactly the lion that is the symbol of Venice? It's just that each of the apostles had his own symbol in the form of an animal (Matthew had an angel as a symbol), but Mark had a lion. Well, his holy relics are buried in the Cathedral of St. Mark on the square of the same name in the very center of the city.
On this we are leaving Venice - a unique city built on water. But we only leave for a while. We will still have meetings with its sights!
