Editing Piazza San Marco (section)

===Medieval piazza (1100–1490)===
Great changes to the area came when [[Sebastiano Ziani]] was Doge (1172–78). Venice was growing in importance and the Doge was a very wealthy man. He initiated the changes which created the piazza as we know it. The Rio Baratario was filled in and the church of San Geminiano on the far side was demolished and rebuilt much farther back at the western end of what became the Piazza. An orchard which occupied part of the area was acquired from the convent of San Zaccharia and the Doge bought up a number of buildings which obstructed the site. By his will he left these buildings to the state and in due course they were demolished to clear the area. The rebuilding of the 9th-century Doge's palace also commenced in his time as Doge.<ref>Macadam pp. 86–87</ref> The precise date of the various new buildings is not known and much must have been done in the time of his son, [[Pietro Ziani]], who was Doge from 1205 to 1229.<ref>Goy p. 64. Howard (2002) p. 30</ref>

[[File:Accademia - Procession in piazza San Marco by Gentile Bellini.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|''Procession in the Piazza San Marco'' by [[Gentile Bellini]], depicting the piazza in 1496]]
The area of the piazza was now defined by the erection of buildings on the north and south sides. On the north side were the procuratie, residences and offices for the procurators of St Mark. The original procuratie were a range of two-storey buildings with a continuous arcade of stilted (i.e. tall and narrow) Byzantine arches below and a single storey above, with two windows above each arch. The ground floor rooms were let out for shops to provide an income. These buildings remained in place for about 300 years and we can see exactly how they looked in 1496 in Gentile Bellini's painting of a procession in the piazza.<ref>Howard (2002) p. 30. Goy 2006 p. 233</ref> This painting also shows the buildings on the opposite (south) side of the Piazza, of which the most important was the Ospizio Orseolo, an inn or hostel for pilgrims going to the Holy Land.<ref>Goy p. 63</ref> It can be seen that the piazza was then considerably narrower than it is today, because these buildings abutted directly against the west wall of the campanile.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}

In 1204, [[Sack of Constantinople|Constantinople was captured]] in the course of the 4th Crusade and, both at that time and later during the 13th century, much valuable material was taken from the city and shipped back for the adornment of Venice. This included marbles and pillars for the façade of St Mark's, the two square pillars in the piazzetta known (wrongly) as the Pillars of Acre and probably also the Pietra del Bando (near the south west corner of St Mark's) and the four porphyry figures known as the Tetrarchs, which were eventually installed near the entrance to the Doge's Palace from the piazzetta.<ref>Howard (2002) p. 25. ''San Marco, Byzantium & the Myths of Venice'': see the pages cited above.</ref>

The two great granite columns in the Piazzetta are usually said to have been erected about 1170, but it is now thought more probable that this was done in the time of Doge Ranieri Zeno (1253–68) about 1268; the bases and capitals are 13th-century. Their origin is unknown, but Chios is suggested as possible.<ref>San Marco, Byzantium & the Myths of Venice p. 79 & n. 10 on p. 10</ref> The lion is first mentioned in a decree of the Great Council in 1293, and the wording makes it clear that it was already on the pillar at that date. A statue of St Theodore (but not the present statue) was in place by 1329.<ref>The Lion of Venice p. 33. Demus p. 22</ref>

It was also at this time, in the later 13th century, that St Mark's was being given its new west façade embellished with marble and mosaics and trophies from Constantinople, including the four horses.<ref>Lorenzetti pp. 164–165</ref>

The original 9th-century Doge's palace was soon found too small for the number of patricians sitting on the Great Council after the right to do so was made hereditary in 1297, and rebuilding started in 1340. Work was held up by the [[Black Death]] in 1348 but the first stage was completed by 1365. This comprised the front part of the palace facing the lagoon, but in the Piazzetta the new building only extended to the seventh pillar back from the front corner, now marked by a circular relief of Venice as Justice on the outside of the first-floor arcade. Further back, part of the old palace, known as the Palace of Justice, remained, much as it had stood for about 200 years.<ref>Howard (2002) pp. 91–93</ref>

Because of the great expense involved, nothing more was done for many years, but in 1422 the Doge Tomaso Mocenigo insisted that for the honour of the city the remaining part of the old palace should be demolished and the new part extended. It was resolved that the existing façade should be continued in the same style, and work started in 1424 under the new Doge [[Francesco Foscari]].<ref>Howard (2002) p. 93. Lorenzetti p. 235. See also Ruskin: Stones of Venice Vol. 2 (The Sea Stories) Ch. 8 para. xx (pp. 297–309 in the 1874 edition)</ref> The extended façade had reached the corner by 1438 and the point where the 15th-century part joins the 14th-century part can only be recognised by the circular relief of Justice above the seventh pillar from the front corner and the fact that that pillar is larger than the others, having held up the corner of the building for 80 years. The capitals on this façade are, for the most part, copies of the existing capitals on the front façade. The last pillar, at the north-western corner of the building, is a very large column and, continuing the theme of Justice, bears a large relief carving of the Judgment of Solomon, with the archangel Gabriel above it. The sculptor is not known, although various suggestions have been made including Bartolomeo Buon from Venice and Jacopo della Quercia from Siena and several art historians think that the sculpture of the Judgment of Solomon (which must have been made in the period 1424/38) shows influence from Tuscany. Eduardo Arslan, after reviewing all the theories in 1971, concluded that this sculpture "remains for us a great mystery".<ref>Arslan pp. 246–252</ref>

In 1438 a contract was made with Giovanni and Bartolomeo Buon for the construction of a great ceremonial doorway into the palace. This was the Porta della Carta and connected the newly constructed wing of the palace with the south wall of St Mark's. Giovanni was nearing the end of his life and the gateway is mainly the work of Bartolomeo. It was completed by 1442 and included a sculpture of the Doge Francesco Foscari kneeling before the lion of St Mark. The statues of the cardinal virtues on either side were by another hand. Originally the whole gateway was painted and gilded.<ref>Howard (2002) p. 123</ref> This is just visible in the right background of Gentile Bellini's painting of 1496, which shows the piazza in its state at this time, still narrow and with the old 13th-century buildings on either side.{{citation needed|date=January 2024}}