Editing Doge's Palace (section)

===Courtyard===
[[File:Doge's Palace Courtyard BLS.jpg|thumbnail|Courtyard of the Doge's Palace, facing the [[St Mark's Basilica|San Marco basilica]]]]
[[File:Doge's Palace Scala dei Giganti BLS.jpg|thumbnail|The ''Scala dei Giganti'', flanked by Mars and Neptune]]
The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and [[St Mark's Basilica]], which used to be the Doge's chapel. At the centre of the courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century.

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 [[Jacopo Sansovino|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 [[Venetian Senate|Senate]] gathered before government meetings in the Senator's Courtyard, to the right of the Giants' Staircase.