The camera failed to record how vivid the sky was. I boosted it a little. The lion is the symbol of Saint Mark of the gospel.
Paolo Giordani gives a lot of information, both direct and tangential, about the columns. I have edited it down as it is quite lengthy.
Near the Palazzo Ducale on the Molo side are two fine Oriental granite columns brought to Venice from a Greek island or from Egypt in the 12th century. When the original three columns were being unloaded, one fell into the water and was never recovered. The two surviving columns were raised in 1170 by Nicolò Barattieri.
On top of the first column is a bronze lion of St Mark, supposedly a Sassanid work, which may have been a remodelled chimera with added wings. On the second column is a statue, supposedly of St Theodore, made of Classic 4th century fragments. At one time a platform for capital punishment was erected between the two columns. The threat 'you'll see what time it is' still often used by Venetians today, alludes to the fact that the last thing seen by a condemned person was the clock tower, opposite the platform between the two columns.
Tags: Photo journalism
Venice
Italy
Travel photography
Reportage
Square format
Molo
Colour Photography
Paolo Giordani
Sestier San Marco
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