ST. MARK'S CAMPANILE

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 853, 27 June 1910, Page 7

ST. MARK'S CAMPANILE

NEW BELLS HUNG. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. Venice, June 24. Bells, given by the Pope, are- being hung in the- Campanile at Venice. The work of rebuilding is Hearing completion. A FAMOUS MONUMENT RESTORED. When the famous Campanile, or helltower, of St. Mark's Cathedral collapsed unietly into a heap of dust on July 11, IUO2, after an existence of 10H years, the general feeling among the people of Venice was tliut the tower must go up again. The Town Council promptly met and decided on the reconstruction of this famous Venetian landmark, "dove era a como era," "where it was and as it was." The intention in rebuilding has been to reproduco the old tower as faithfully as possible both in structure and in colour; with that object in view, (he bricks have been specially selected and laid as in the original Campanile, the modelling of tho windows and the internal arrangement of inclined plane have been preserved. The. shaft in reality is composed of an'inucr and aji outer shaft; between them mounts the inclined plane which leads to the bell-chamber. The walls of the outer shaft are Oft. thick, and the 'interior of the tower presents a fine piece of brick construction, almost Roman in its imprcssiveiicss. The design of the inner siiaft offers the only important structural change which differentiates the new tower from the old. The whole tower is solidly linked together, and, should it ever fall again, it will not sit down gently, as did tho old tower, causing comparatively little damage, but must inevitably fall in one block, crushing whatever it touches. It is interesting to note that the two figures of Justice which adorned the east and the west sides of the square attic, above tho bell-chamber, were intact after the fall, and will bo employed when tne reconstruction of the attic is reached; the lions of St. Mark, which originally occupied tho centre of the north and south sides of tho attic, wore defaced during the Fronch occupation of Venice, but are to lie restored to tho modern Campanile. The tower is a square, 12 feet to a side, and is 323 feet in height. —*