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Enhance your holiday travel experience by downloading this audio tour of the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy
Great Discoveries audio tour of the Piazza San Marco offers the most enjoyable and informative way to visit the world's most photographed public square. The piazza is the place most dear to the hearts of all Venetians, as well as to the hearts of its thousands of annual visitors. The great cities of the world - London, Rome, Paris, New York, Beijing and Moscow all have their famous public squares or spaces. Whether it's Times Square, Trafalgar Square or Tiananmen Square, each city is at least partially defined by its urban open space. Not to be outdone, tiny Venice has its magnificent square, the Piazza San Marco, once described by Napoleon, as the finest drawing room in Europe, and according to most Venetians the only place in the city 'worthy of having the sky for its roof.
Piazza San Marco is a majestic trapezoid shaped space whose sheer scale alone defies one's senses. It is as overwhelming as it is exhilarating; overwhelming for its size and the hordes of tourists it holds, and exhilarating because as squares go this one is nearly perfect in its shape and architectural details. The symmetry and beauty of St. Mark's Basilica and its Bell Tower (or Campanile) can leave even the most callused traveler dumbstruck. On a sunny day the sun reflects off the Basilica's mosaics, creating a golden glow which reinforces the myths and stories surrounding the history of this magnificent edifice.
Grandiose buildings and monuments define the boundaries of the Piazza, destined from its inception to be the social, administrative, religious, and commercial hub of the city. On its western side stands St. Mark's Basilica, a uniquely Venetian Byzantium-Gothic building that was completed in 1094. It is a stunning structure, topped by five impressive domes, famous for its intricately decorated mosaics both inside and out, and for its four gilded bronze horses and its Pala d'Oro altarpiece. The Basilica di San Marco houses the body of Venice's patron saint, St. Mark. Next to the Basilica stands the luxurious Doge Palace constructed in 1419. The Palace is an amazingly strong, secular symbol, although the building itself was not fortified. At the end of the square towers the tallest structure in Venice the Bell Tower. The tower standing today is a replacement for the original, which collapsed on its weak foundation in 1902. Several museums also are found on the Piazza, including the Library of Sansoviniana, and the Correr Museum. Our carefully researched tour identifies and locates the squares most relevant treasures to ensure that visitors do not miss the important structures and that they clearly understand each items artistic and historic significance.
Our professional narrator, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, informs and entertains as he guides visitors around the piazza explaining its extraordinary history, its magnificent buildings and telling captivating stories about the lives of the people involved.
Guides are recorded in easy to follow segments that are readily located on your iPod. This 3 hour and 3 minute, 42 track, audio tour is designed to work with an easy to read building diagram, with clearly numbered locations, which coordinate with the track numbers and descriptions displayed on your iPod.
Author / Spoken By Jim Sweeney / Christopher Kent
Click to see more from this Presenter
Enhance your holiday travel experience by downloading this audio tour of the Piazza San Marco in Venice, Italy
Great Discoveries audio tour of the Piazza San Marco offers the most enjoyable and informative way to visit the world's most photographed public square. The piazza is the place most dear to the hearts of all Venetians, as well as to the hearts of its thousands of annual visitors. The great cities of the world - London, Rome, Paris, New York, Beijing and Moscow all have their famous public squares or spaces. Whether it's Times Square, Trafalgar Square or Tiananmen Square, each city is at least partially defined by its urban open space. Not to be outdone, tiny Venice has its magnificent square, the Piazza San Marco, once described by Napoleon, as the finest drawing room in Europe, and according to most Venetians the only place in the city 'worthy of having the sky for its roof.
Piazza San Marco is a majestic trapezoid shaped space whose sheer scale alone defies one's senses. It is as overwhelming as it is exhilarating; overwhelming for its size and the hordes of tourists it holds, and exhilarating because as squares go this one is nearly perfect in its shape and architectural details. The symmetry and beauty of St. Mark's Basilica and its Bell Tower (or Campanile) can leave even the most callused traveler dumbstruck. On a sunny day the sun reflects off the Basilica's mosaics, creating a golden glow which reinforces the myths and stories surrounding the history of this magnificent edifice.
Grandiose buildings and monuments define the boundaries of the Piazza, destined from its inception to be the social, administrative, religious, and commercial hub of the city. On its western side stands St. Mark's Basilica, a uniquely Venetian Byzantium-Gothic building that was completed in 1094. It is a stunning structure, topped by five impressive domes, famous for its intricately decorated mosaics both inside and out, and for its four gilded bronze horses and its Pala d'Oro altarpiece. The Basilica di San Marco houses the body of Venice's patron saint, St. Mark. Next to the Basilica stands the luxurious Doge Palace constructed in 1419. The Palace is an amazingly strong, secular symbol, although the building itself was not fortified. At the end of the square towers the tallest structure in Venice the Bell Tower. The tower standing today is a replacement for the original, which collapsed on its weak foundation in 1902. Several museums also are found on the Piazza, including the Library of Sansoviniana, and the Correr Museum. Our carefully researched tour identifies and locates the squares most relevant treasures to ensure that visitors do not miss the important structures and that they clearly understand each items artistic and historic significance.
Our professional narrator, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, informs and entertains as he guides visitors around the piazza explaining its extraordinary history, its magnificent buildings and telling captivating stories about the lives of the people involved.
Guides are recorded in easy to follow segments that are readily located on your iPod. This 3 hour and 3 minute, 42 track, audio tour is designed to work with an easy to read building diagram, with clearly numbered locations, which coordinate with the track numbers and descriptions displayed on your iPod.
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