Click on images to enlarge them. The first three photographs are by Landow (July 1966 and October 2000). Remaining photographs by Freidus 2020.

The Palazzo Ducale. A corner of the Libreria Vecchia (Biblioteca Marciana) and the Campanile appear at the left. John Ruskin, who in The Seven Lamps of Architecture praised the Palazzo Ducale as “the model of perfection” (8.111), in The Seven Lamps of Architecture pulled out all the stops and claimed it to be “The Parthenon of Venice” (10.340), “the consummation of Gothic” (10.327), and “the central building of the world” (9.38), in part because it combines the spirits of Byzantine and Gothic architecture.

A View of Libreria Vecchia (Biblioteca Marciana) to the left of the Palazzo Ducale. Between the two buildings one sees in the distance St. Mark’s Cathedral and a bit of the Procuratie Vecchie on St. Mark’s Square (La Piazza San Marco).

Two views approaching the Palazzo Ducale from the Grand Canal.

More of Ruskin's Venice

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Last modified 28 March 2020