Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-19
RESTORING CAMPAN|LE
Great Progress Is Being Made
in Work.
REPLICA OF ORIGINAL
Total Cost Will Probably Reach
100000.
100000 ALREADY IS SPENT
Base and Shaft Complete-New
Bells in Workshop Ready
to Hang.
Foreign Correspondence Of The Star.

Foreign Correspondence of The Star.
ROME October S. 1909.
According to Commentators Bonl, now
at Venice. great progress is being mace
in rebuilding the Campanile of St Marks
1t was on the morning of July IA, 19o2,
that the old Campanile feli-"colapsed like
a telescope that is shut up as Vene-
tian spectator graphically expressed it.
When it was decided that the tower
should be rebult-and there are some
who still think that its reconstruction
was mistake-an estimate Of $4,000
was accepted for the entire work, of
which some $4,000 has already been
spent.
1t Is now calculated that the total cost
will be about 100000. Ample provision
has already been made for the whole of
this sum.
The International subscription that was
started soon after the old tower fell has
brought in S191.57o: the government and
the Venetian municipality have promised
100000 apiece: various societies have
offered between them the sum Of SCI .4SO
and unpaid subscriptions and sundries
amount TO $o,I65.
Replica of Original.
The task which Dr. Piacentini and his
colleagues set themselves to accomplish
is indeed stupendous. The total height of
the Campanile, from the level of the
piazza to the top of the angel. which will
surmouht it, will be 3ooo feet 3i4 inches, Of
which up to the present moment 179 feet
or somewhat more than half, have been
finished.
That is to say. the base and the shaft
are now complete. 1t is calculated that
ii there be no more Byzantine questions
such as delayed the reconstruction of
the tower in its earlier stages-questions
as to quality of brickwork and number of
StepS-the work can be naugurated in
from eighteen months TO two years from
now-that is in the jubilee year Of 1911
In the reconstruction of the Campanile
the architects and engineers have set be-
fore them as an ideal to be followed an
exact reproduction of the old building.
Naturally, some notifications have been
introduced for greater security, but these
viii. for the most part, escape the eye Of
all but few experts
For example, the thirty-six inclined
planes of the old shaft reposed on arches,
the new shaft is false one and the real
support Is provided by iron clamps fas-
tened into the masonry, and forming a
gigantic framework of iron which would
stand. 1T is said, even II the stonework
again collapsed.
With few exceptions. all details and
measurements of the former Campanile
have been strictly preserved in the con-
struction of the new. AT the base the
shaft measures ~ feet inches, and at
the sur,mit it has gradually tapered to
10 feet % inches-a difference scarcely
perceptible from below.
Even the old Latin inscription on four
stones at the top of the shaft has been
cut afresh on the new blocks, and reads
as before: "Christus Rex VENT in pace:
ct Deus homo lactus est" while the curl
Gus idea OF making the columns under
the dado of bronze instead of stone will
be scrupulously preserved.
New Bells All Ready
The new bells are all ready in the work.
shops at the base of the Campanile. only
waiting for its completion to be hoisted
to their place. OF the five bells founded
as late as 1919. during the days of good
Kaiser Franz" one escaped. as by mir
acle, almost intact. and this bell. the larg-
est of the quintet. the campanone or
big bell as il Is called, will be used
again in the new belfry. The other four
bells. all new, the gift Of Plus X, who
has thus once more shown his love for
the city of which he was patriarch, have
been founded out of the metal Of the old
four. All the five are now standing side
by side in order of size. Each of them
bears Latin inscription.
The two biggest bells have peculiarities
Of their own. The largest bears a Latin
inscription describing its founding in 1919
under Francis l of Austria: the second.
the largest of those presented by the
his official signature. The five bells
weigh ten tons.
The I4oggietta. which stood at the base
of the tower, also has been practically re-
constructed, mainly out of the original
materials.