The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-12-26
.|RREPARIbLt LOSS
WROUGHT BY BOMBS
Historic Old Church I'm Venice, one of
Worlds Monuments. Seriously
Damaged.

tunity to see the destructive effect OF
the bomb raids on Venice was given
today to The Associated Press, When
an inspection unJeI official escort was
made of the havoc ard ruin in the
famous old church Of the Scatzi, one
of the art monuments of the world,
now a wreck with its roof blown off,
its massive walls lettering, and the
famous ceiling fresco by Tiepolo. val
ued at million francs, lying in heaps
or rubbish in the ruins of the build
ing There have been three bomb
raids on Venice. but this was the worst
and the historic church bore the fun
brunt of it.
Approaching the massive edihce
one sees a gaping hole IN the root
extending from front to rear, The
facade fronting the Grand Canal. IS
untouched But back Of the heure@
the roof says away IN curved line
downward and then m again 10 the
rear wall ss though some giant hand
had reached down and torn oft the
whole top Of the church, leaving only
the front and the rickety side walls
still intact Workmcn can be see,
high above beginning the work OF
salvage and repair, and heavy tim
bers are being laced across the gaping
hole left by the bomb
Entering the historic church
scene Of havoc and ruin is presented
twisted beams and arches, panela
and columns OF ala baster crushed INTO
bits and lying around in heaps the
richly carved pulpit blown 10 pieces
with only faint outline of It's former
wonders remaining. and above, the
roof wide open TO tho sky. with tho
IN huge masses OF debris on the stone
pavement Faint edges OF the grand
old frescos still cling to the side
walls. giving some idea Of the beau
ties OF the work torn away. Six
enormous arches SPAWNED the edif'ce
m Getting in the middle, and giving an
intervening space for these fresoos-
Not A vestiee remains Of the main
subjects the visit ~ the Virgin 70
Ioretto containing hundreds NJ BIB.
Heal and categorical figures, the rag
ged edges showing only cloud effects
and the background with few fg
ures The high altar with spiral
aiabaster columns and rich decora-
tons Ia not touched and another
curious feature Is that the electric
candles circling the church are nm
disturbed the electric bulbs shining
two exceptions-the high altar far IN
the rear and the circijnE candles
everything is a ruin. fresCoed ceiling
fnlaid marble sidewalks, sculptures
confessionals memorial tablets. hap
tistry and marble, mosaic pavement
all lying about in fragments
II was about eleven o'clock In the
morning when the explosion occurred
This was the busy hour. when the
gondolas were crowding the Grand
Canal. and the Senetians were shop
ping and marketing Suddenly sin
gle monopiane was seen in the north
ern sky. coming from tho direction
OF the Austrian frontier 1t Was ny
ing high--aboi1t $500 meters, Peo-
pie a. first did not recognize this
speck as an enemy bent on destruc.
ton Soon. however. sthe steam siren
al tho Arsenal gave long waiI@tf1s
signal or warning and the people
scattered 70 cellars and any available
cover The aeroplane WAS nov IN fill
view heading straight for the big
railway station Of Venice, the center
OF network Of railway connections.
lust above the station the aeropiane
began to circle round and round,
Clearly II was going to bomb she sta
ton. But at $500 meters height the
aim IL not good and besides there
was mist adding TO the difficulties Of
sure shot, Down came the bomb
people could see il fell--but instead
of the station It struck square on
top Of the famous church II did
not explode immed iate}v as Il struck
the roof Instead. 1t made clean
hole through the roof and then
shooting downwards, exploded Just
above and In front of the pulpit
This internal explosion is what
caused the terrible destruction. as he
side. the flying fragments of the bomb
and Its shrapne1 contents. the sud
der expansio OF air in the confined
interior OF the church, literally lift
ed the roof from the supporting walls
and blew II skyward One side ~
the roof was bent over 70 the right.
the other To the left. beams and arches
crashing upward and over. white
m sses OF debris settled down Be-
tween the walls The frescoed cell
Ing had disappeared in an instant.
Particles of the bomb dug deep into
the alahaster facing the walls, crack
ing and wrenching the marble pillars
and side walls from floor to roof (
Even the marble floor. made of huge /
slabs formed In mosaics was torn
I'M I'm chunks One huge slab Of the
floor covered the tomb Of some of tht
famous Venetians OF olden DAYS and
this was wrenehed out exposing the
tomb below The explosion occurred
when the church was deserted. 80
that no loss Of life resulted.
To the art world the DAMAGE 10 the
famous old church IS an irrepara bic
loss Everywhere ii was known as
the type of The Venetian baroque
style, and next to the church of
Santa Maria was the best example of
this style in the world, The fresco
by Tiepolo. covering the entire cell
ing, was. OF course the greatest loss
as next to Titan Tintoretto and Paul
Neronesc, Tiepo,o was accepted as the
greatest of descriptive painters, and
the last of the older school Of famous
Venetian masters. The destroyed
fresco was his most representative
work and probably the largest. After
nearly 400 years the painting was III
an excellent state of preservation. the
vivdness of the coloring and the great
number OF figures in the colossal
Wnrk--rearlS. 90 feet Across giving