Granite Columns of St. Mark'S

In front of the quay and landing-steps of the Piazzeta, stand the two memorable granite columns associated with the fortunes of Venice for so many years. They were transported from the Holy Land in 1120 by the Doge Dominico Michiele. Originally there were three; but, in landing them, one was lost in the mud of the lagoon; the other two were safely brought to shore, but remained prostrate on the quay for several years, before any one would undertake to raise them.

A reward offered by the Doge Sebastiano Ziani, at length induced one Nicolo Barratiero, or "Nick the Blackleg," to offer his services.

He succeeded, and claimed for his remuneration the privilege of carrying on in the space between the columns those games of chance elsewhere prohibited by the Venetian law.

The doge could not refuse: but, to neutralize the privilege, it was enacted that all public executions should thenceforth take place on the same spot; hence, to the imaginative Venetians, it became so ominous, that even to cross it was indicative of a coming misfortune.

When Marino Faliero was made doge, his gondoliers by some mischance landed him "between the columns," a circumstance which in the minds of the populace accounted for his sorrows, his treason, and his fate.

One of the columns is surmounted by the Lion of St. Mark, holding the Gospel of St. Mark in his paw.

The other column supports a fine figure of St. Theodore, the patron saint of the city, executed in 1329 by Pietro Guilombardo.

He stands upon a crocodile; a nimbus surrounds his head; his right arm carries a buckler; and his left wields a sword, intimating that Venice took for its motto "Defence, not Defiance," and drew the sword only to shield herself from attack.