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Mars and Neptune at the top of the Giants' Stairs

There is a separate album for my exterior visit of the Palazzo Ducale in 2014. --- --- --- www.flickr.com/photos/136891509@N07/albums/72157678020954... --- --- --- --- --- --- In 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. The design envisaged a straight axis with the rounded Foscari Arch, with alternate bands of Istrian stone and red Verona marble, linking the staircase to the Porta della Carta, and thus producing one single monumental approach from the Piazza into the heart of the building. Since 1567, the Giants’ Staircase is guarded by Sansovino's two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represents Venice's power by land and by sea, and therefore the reason for its name. Members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator's Courtyard, to the right of the Giants’ Staircase.

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Uploaded on August 10, 2021
Taken on November 10, 2014