El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-04-20
IS
RESTORED
IN BONE
Tumbling Of Great Tower
Caused CONSERVATION in
Eternal City.
AFTER TEN YEARS 1T
is AS IN OLDEN DAYS

netians stood about the utter ruins Of
their campanile, just ten years ago.
TO them II seemed lrreYoca Oily Iosl,
gone glimmering through the dream
Of things that We're" In those IlrSI
moments the disaster appeared IRENE
diable. but still there is their tower
today, refashiOned just as before, and
they rub their eyes almost thinking IL
all a bad dream.
The campanie fell on the morning
of July Il, 1902, and already In the
spring Of the next year work had Deen
begun on the new structure, out nOl
before much time had been lost and an
gry passions reused over the form II
should take and where it should stand
One party argued that Ine anclenIs
when one Of the great buildings was
destroyed did not erect another just
like il in its place, but built the best
which living architects could produce
They also said that the old tower had
broken the symmetry of the piazza and
that thus the site of the new structure
should be elsewhere. The other party
was for an absolute reproduction of the
old tower and in the old place and il
won the day.
Not So bad As Imagined.
It was soon discovered that matters
might have been much worse than they
were; the campanile was indeed a rub
bish heap. but out Of that rubbish
came wonderful things, bells cracked
but not destroyed, pieces Of marble
showing the designs and shapes OF
what had been, old bricks bearing the
names Of all the emperOrs, from Nero
to TheOdOsius, the angel which stood
on the top was little injured, and so
on.
After careful examination it was de-
cided TO use the old foundations ltoo
small for the weight which they haC
been made TO carry for so many nun
dreds Of years., as they were perfect
So in 1903 the Count of Turin with
rope Plus X, then patriarch Of Venice,
TO bless II. layea the cornerstone OF the
reincarnatiOn, in the center Of the or
iginal foundations Around them were
driven. over an area of y feet 1915
fresh hardwood piles. from Galore. the
piles being, more or less, nine inches IN
diameter and twelve and half feet
long Larch has two qualities which
make perfect piles; they harden, al
most petrify, in the peculiar clay OF
Venice. and they are straight They
averaged - to every three square feet
making a total enlargement Of 800
square yards, and were driven in BY
a 510-pOund weight raised four feet
six inches, to absolute resistance
However the work presented many
difficulties. as for instance, during the
driving,~the northwest corner showed a
depression of half foot, due to a diff
ference of soil, so longer piles had to
be selected and run through a sandy
deposit into the clay below
On this bed of piles were placed large
blocks Of stone cemented together,
which when finished, il was estimated,
would hold a weight Of $4,000 tons,
while the completed tower is about
2O,0 900 tons.
Requires Two Years.
This work took two years, and year
after the structure was already Is
feet high. Work was then suspended
for over year, due to disagreements
so that the end of 1908 arrived before
the shaft was finished.
All this time artists were working
g. - Al l. 80
LOggia di SansOvinO, which stood at
the foot of the tower a work OF Won I
derfuI perseverance, as for instance Z
the celebrated group Of the Madonna I
with Christ and St John, in terra cot
ia, which have been patiently picked !
out of the debris, and. with even more !
patience, fitted together in such q
manner that what is really patchwork /
appears perfect whole; that Is, the I
Madonna and Christ, but St. John !
was so reduced to dust that not one |
piece was found The four bronze l
figures which stood in the inches are !
now there as before, and the marvellous /
gates which were literally torn apart F.
into fragments have been reconstructed Q
piece by piece. a perfect mosaic. an i'm F.
possibility but for old prints which /
gave the designs The marble pillars I
are practically the original ones, and I
where the missing chips Nand pieces /
could not be found the necessary ma .
terial was taken from the inside of the
pillars themselves. The only really new
things are the doors. which are Ok
wood, but on the old model
The Restored Tower.
The tower as II now stands land Gs
# was when it collapsed is S22 feet
high the shaft. an absolute reproduc-
Ton. is composed Of about 1900 0OO
copper coIored bricks, each handmade
over q wood fire. according to an
tioue measurements. Each was tested
before being put in place, and II not
IT,
belfry looks out over the same entranC-
ing view, one OF its pecularlues being
that not a canal can be seen, and holds
the recast bells, and the one old one
which escaped injury, the Maran-
coma" the largest Of all, which was
brought from Crete centuries ago.
over the belfry stands the original
golden angel. She is 80 rect nigh and
tremities in bronze. The Jotal cost OF
the reconstructed tower as II now
stands completed has Deen about }
S22515O. almost entirely contributed
by Venice and the province OF enice.
The Inauguration takes place on I
April %, coinciding with the opening
of the great bi-annual international !
Exhibition Of Paintings ana sculpture.
which will take place on april %
It is difficult for strangers TO un-
derstand what the campanile meant to
Nenetians. and therefore what its re-
appearance signifies to Inem- II was
begun as far back as 300 anu was d
watchtower to signal the arrival of the
enemy, Of course from the sea In
1929 il had already been transformed (
into a bell tower; in 1417 in was pro-
vided with a marble belfry, and in 1917 I
boosted an angel as its crown Of glory
which was later destroyed and re-
placed by the present golden one In /
all these centuries the campanile has |
been the protection Of the city, I
through it no enemy could approach !
unexpectedly. while the peal Of bells 1
called the citizens to arms or l. /
Thanksgiving. as the case might be.