The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-12-17
VENICE REMOVES TREASURES FROM ZONE OF DANGER.

some strange changes and vicissitudes to this wonderful old storehouse of art, the greatest probably in all Flu rope, now in the heart of the war zone and in state of siege, with bomb att tacks frequent and the enemy from ! tier only 30 miles away. The Grand 1 Canal looks today like a vast navy ] yard, and the whole city has taken on defense.
 Three huge warships, one a dread nought, swung in the Grand Canal ] just off the Arsenal on the left They were pulling black smoke, and their gray hulls were crowded with sailors. A destroyer was near by ready to dart out for Austrian submarines. 1 Rising from the Arsenal was a huge dfrigib1e balloon on the watch for en- 1 eny aeroplanes. It was not long, sleek dirigfbIe like Zeppelin, but 1 lung like craft hanging at an angle, with lobe as rudder, and the mill ! ftary observer in a hanging basket 20 i feet below. At the same time two Italian monoplanes took flight from St. Georges Island, circling over the l canals and quays. There was no siren i alarm from the Arsenal, so that peo- | pie knew they were friendly aircraft ! on the watch for the enemy.
 l Turning to the famous Campanile l and the Square of San Marco every thing has taken on the visage of war.
 
 | bags reaching 30 feet high around the
 base-a protective arnor against ] bombs. A great wooden rack has
 been built to hold NI1e sandbags, and
 they make solid wall 20 feet thick l around the monument
 All the famous bronzes and marble re1iefs are shut off from view by the I arn1or of sandbags, but the great bell I tower rises above the sandbags, 325 feet. still an open mark for bombs. 1 The Canpantle. usually open to vis- ltors IS now rtgidlys closed. The only persons going to the top are the mil 1 ltary observers, watching day and night.
 It is well this defensive armor has been thrown around the Campanile, for one of the Austrian bombs has al- i ready struck only 200 feet. and an | other 3e0 feet away. The first bomb l struck on the stone quay, squarely
 between the granite columns topped l by the Winged Lion of San Marco, l thet emblem Of Venice, and the other column with the statue of St. The 1 dore, patron of the Venetian Repub- | lie. This bomb did not explode If 1t I had done so it would proba bly, have shattered these columns and might have reached the Campanile The
 other bomb fell in the Grand Canal and exploded under water,
 These two bombs were within 50 feet. of the Palace of the Doges, which
 was armored even more so1idly than the Campani1e. The beautiful bui1d- ing would not be recognized in it's war dress. A solid brick wall 10 feet through. has been built around each corner, thus defending the sculptures of Adam and Eve, which Ruskin in his Stones of Venice says are the finest in Europe. All the other fa- nous sculptures are similarly sheath ed with the front of brick. F The remarkable arcade has been l solidly built in with brick, so that, even if bomb demolished the top of this famous monument, the foun- l dations. are sure to stand for two stories up. Above, huge tirnbers are laced across the galleries, as buttresses and supports. Even the quatrefoi1 I windows have solid centres of 12-inch tiInbers.
 All the movable contents of the Doges' Palace-the great collections l of paintings-haye been taken to Florence and other points far enough away from the frontier to be out of Ereach of aerop1anes. But some of the I best of these paintings by Titan, Tin 1 toretto, and Pao1o Veronese are on I the ceilings and walls, and cannot be removed. The splendid windows 1 around the Grand Council Chamber of the Doges are boarded up, with an outside sheathing of canvas. As a
 whole, the structure looks more like a I fortress than one of the art monu-
 ments of the world.
 The Church of St. Mark is similarly fstripped. The four bronze horses, of
 heroic size, standing above, the main T entrance, have been taken down and
 are removed far from the frontier.
 The Byzantine front has received a defensive arrnor Of heavy timbers protecting the corners, pinnaoles, and |
 Tnosafcs of the interior have been re- moved but there. as in the Doges'
 Palace, many of the finest art works are on ceilings and walls, and must
 stay to take the chances of bomb
 raids.
 The Piazza of San Maco. which is E the centre of life and gaiety in peace
 time, is now almost deserted, and al
 night is shrouded in darkness. At E
 p. nj. every window and store front is
 heavily curtained. and for two minute. every electric light in the city is ex tinguished, a warning to the people tt keep everything shrouded and tha the city light plant may be extinguish ed at any moment.
 In the middle of the square are twt little swar fountains Oneruns dow1 104 metes in the ground. the othe,
 2S0 meters. Fine fresh water gushe : from them. They are another wa. emergency measure, so that if tn, regular water supply of Venice is GU : off, these fountains will keep peopl in water from the deep wells below 2 This water supply. of Venice is ser 2 ious question, as the water Is ,brough from Castelfranco. 24 miles to tn
 north, and within a few miles of tn Austrian border. That Is why thes emergency war fountains. from loca ] wells are now dotted all over Venice The Bridge of Signs, which crosse 2 lone of the canals hanking the Doges s Palace, also gives evidence of the war l las Red Cross flags are hanging iron r it's windows. and one of the principa ! lRed Cross hospitals is in the o1, e prison to which the. Bridge of Sigh : Heads.