The sun., 1902-10-19
YEHICE'S PRESENT DANGERS.
BUILDINGS THREATENED WITH
THE CAMPtNTLE'S FATE.
81. Marks Itself Not Altogether secure
Other Historic structures May Not
he Saved-Obser ations COncernlng
the Alleged Sub>id cnce of the Soii

grounds for hoping thar further disasters
like the downfall of the famous Campanile
of ST. Marks viii now be prevented. though
much skill and money will have tu bc eN-
pended
Signor Bonl. who was sent ten weeks
ago 10 act a. surgeon to mutliated Venice.
has recently issued "a bulletin, ~ wing that
the ills Of the Campanile are durable in
Ave years. by which time the Marangona
will be ringing again. But Venice has
other ills To bc treated Other buildings.
more beautiful and Of at leas, equal his
t0ic import. are IN peril
81. Marks itself, the Doges' Palace. the
Procuratie Necchie. IN. Iecca and the
churches Of Santa Maria Glorio~a del Frari
and Santi Giovanni Paoio, need prompt
attention and in some cases drastic treat
uent IL catastrophe more .rroparable than
the fall N the Campanle II to bn avoided.
The correspondent Of the Times writes
that there are AZ present no means Of sscer-
tanning how far 81 Marks, as an cdtce.
is in danger, though at first sight the
marked inequalities in the pavement sug.
rest a doubt whether the -oii around tn.
foundations may not have moved. More
Alarming, because more appreCiabla l.
the great arch Of the Apocalypse. which
u lighted 10y the large cent raj window facing
the piazza. There Is a great crack in the
mosaic Of the arch and the arch says on
one side. Steps have been taken Ia re-
pair IT,
In the Doges' Palace work has not vet
gone much beyond th" preliminary stage
~, Investigation, except that the books of
the Biblioteca Marciana hay" been removed
from the rooms of the sout heast corner.
: where danger was most apparent Behind
the empty bookcase serious diagonal LESSONS
are visible in the walls. and tho spectator
feels as though the brickwork we're slowly
tutnbling outward toward the canalctto
crossed by the Bridge of Sigh-
. The cause of this movement is not far 10
seek. iPhe same Veudrssco who forstold
the fall of the Campanile did not sCruple
10 cut through one of the chief internal
walls that run parallel To the facade. TO
make room for lift in which the heavier
books might be conveyed from one floor TO
another.
Not only did he make an aperture fully
twenty feet high and nearly thrce feet
wide in this eighteen inch wall. but he cut
through a massive iron bar by which the
wall had previously been braced togcth her
Consequently the whole of the the semi
detached portion of the wall bot ween the
aperture and the Canelet'o tends TO toppel
outward.
Tho old Procuratie. or colonnade. on
the north side of the Piazza san Marco
has caused considerable anxiety. Serious
LESSONS have necesSitatcd summary meas
ures for relieving and supporting some
Of the arches. Some If the columns were
found to he detached from the arches which
they were supposed 70 support, and some
of the arches were seen to be cracked and
unsound
Al the Church of Santi Giovanni Paolo
the imprudence of The ccclesiast ica authori-
ties in cutting away parts OF the masonry
TO make room for tawdry side altars has
endangered the whole Of one side of the
church. while the sinking Of the sub-oil
or some other unknown cause has twisted
and bent the huge column which supports
the mort Invest angle of the nave and the
transept.
Signori Roni and Ongaro have devoted
the greatest attention TO this eClifice. but
it is doubtful whether all their pains will
avail to save Santi Giovanni Paolo In
the case of the church of Santa Maria
Gloriosa del Frari success, is more probable,
though NV no means assured. In conso-
Bellini's famous Madonna has been tenn
porarily removed from it, place in the
sacristy and placed in new light The
marvellous beauty of the picture is vastly
enhanced hv the change.
The problem Of widest interest that
Signor Boni l. attempting TO solve is that
81 the general subsistence of Venetian soil
Tho whole subject of Venetian monuments,
says another writer, is absorbed by the
larger question of the stability of the soil
on which Venice II ands.
Those who have studied the whole u,ies-
tion Of the Venetian lagoous believe that
the land subsidies few inches every century
There Ii evidence that in the course Of Cen-
turtles both the Piazza San Marco and the
Campanile sank TO a considerable extent .
so much so, indeed that Sgnor Boni has
raised the point, A. to whether or not the
new Campanle ought to he a. high as the
old one al the time of its fall, or a. lofty
as 1t was at the period of its completion
yard below the present pavement Of
the Piazza there is All old pavement. This
ancient path must have sunk considerably.
for II Is not 10 be SUP posed hat the Venet lar
republic would have allowed its Piazza
to be inundated az high water.
Even nov spring ride floods the Piazza
and al old Venetian says that Of late years
q has not been ar uncommon spectacle 10
-'',ee a gondola pass along the ProcuTatie
Nupve. a thing he never heard of thirty or
forty years back.
Signor Boni is trying to discover the rat .
of subsistence of the soil by making sea
level marks "a Tho chief Venetian buildings
and on tho prircipa island, VI the agoons
BY periodical observation of these marks
ard by comparing thcn with standard
POINTS in the different geological strata in
the Alps he hopes to find ou, What the rate
of movement really is
The theory of gradual suhsidencc. how
= ever. Is not tie only explanation advanced
! 20 account for the shifting of the soil Some
believe that the waves produced by "ihc
: penny steamers are TO blame. while others
, think that tho constant deepening in the
J, harbor causes the land gradually 10 slide
away toward the depressions made by the
; dredgeIs