Naval Historical Museum of Venice. Excursion to the “Ship Hall”
Oh ghostly city, where instead of streets there are rivers,
Where in the shaky depths the pattern is always moving,
From roofs, porticos, and boats, and bridges,
I think it’s about to disappear forever,
Mirage: distant fleet, going to vastness,
Ile castle, which grew for a moment from the clouds.
Henry Longfellow. Venice". Translation by V.V. Levik
Where in the shaky depths the pattern is always moving,
From roofs, porticos, and boats, and bridges,
I think it’s about to disappear forever,
Mirage: distant fleet, going to vastness,
Ile castle, which grew for a moment from the clouds.
Henry Longfellow. Venice". Translation by V.V. Levik
Military museums of Europe. Last time we started a “journey” through the halls venetian naval historical museum. By the way, having received a ticket at the box office, in no case throw it away, it will give you the opportunity to visit another building, next to the first - “Ship Hall”. And we’ll also go there, but for now we’ll finish with the halls of the museum itself, because so far we have examined only a small part of them.
Here is "all of Asia."
Chinese junky.
Well, it’s clear that it was simply impossible to do without a kobukson model.
As already noted, the museum has a lot of models. Ancient sailboats, made entirely of wood, and modern warships of a meter two or three long. Looks very impressive, for example, the model of the battleship "Roma" ("Rome"), sunk at the very end of the war by a German guided bomb. All Asia is present, in a word, for a ship modeller there is something to see. However, the most impressive thing here is the model, which you can see only here! This is the model of the Butacaurus gallery.
Bombardier ship of the XVIII century. And behind him are the Phoenicians and Greeks. And the Venetian galley from the time of the Battle of Lepanto.
And this is a participant in the battle of Liss - the battleship Regina Maria Pia.
Golden Galley Buchintoro
The fact that Venice has become rich in transit trade between East and West is known to all. And the fact that beautiful ships of their time were built here, too. The craftsmen who worked at the Venetian shipyards were so experienced and masterful that the konapatches of state shipyards, for example, were forbidden to switch to private traders, and ship masters were simply not allowed to leave the city. All their secrets were to die with them. And, of course, the Venetians understood well that they owed their well-being to the sea. So good that they even hosted an annual celebration of betrothal with the sea! From the XII century until the 1798 of the year, the next Doge of Venice went to the lagoon at the gilded Buchintoro Gallery (Butucaurus) and threw a gold ring into the water with the words: “We will marry you, Sea”. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the second floor of this museum the Buchintoro Gallery is dedicated to a whole hall. A beautifully executed model of this most luxurious and, unfortunately, the latest “Butsaurus” is exhibited here, which, unfortunately, has not survived to this day. The name of this ship itself is translated as "Golden Barge", and the Venetians really did not regret it. And that is why the soldiers of Napoleon in 1798 year and broke it. The Venetians managed to save and preserve only a few fragments of this ship, which are exhibited here and in the Carrer Museum on St. Mark's Square. Well, the Senso holiday is held today, but in a modernized form, of course.
What a beauty she was!
And this is her bow decoration
The model conveys all the luxury and magnificence of this ship: the throne of the Doge was at the stern, and the figure of the goddess of justice with a sword and scales was decorated with a bow. Inside the spacious cabin on board the galley could fit 90 people, and he himself was trimmed with red velvet.
Interestingly, back in 2008 in Venice, it was decided to create an exact copy of the famous Doge Gallery, and the corresponding fund was created. Its organizers appealed to the then president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, demanding “as a reparation” to reimburse part of the cost of its construction. The Times wrote on this subject that the barbaric destruction of the galley is a "dark spot" on history two countries and it would be good to erase it. It is planned to reproduce all the carvings and gold finishes of this unique ship. At the same time, the total cost of the work is estimated at approximately 20 million euros. Which is not surprising. After all, the ship was not at all small: the length was 35,2 m, the width was 7,5 m, the number of oars 42, the length of the oar 10,6 m, the rowers on it were 168 people.
And here is the legendary Duilio ... Not very impressive, however, a model
Another piece of shipbuilding art of those years: ship lights.
Guns and guns
In addition to models, the museum has a lot of full-scale exhibits, in particular the same guns, cores, and shells. For example, shells of huge naval cannons that were installed on armadillos until 1879 were exhibited here, when a 330-mm turret gun exploded on the armadillo Tanderer, which was mistakenly charged twice. Moreover, these guns were rifled! And the protrusions for these rifling in the trunks were made on the shells themselves - first from zinc, then zinc was replaced by copper. Here you can see the uniform of Italian officers. fleet: A collection of beautiful uniforms with epaulettes and postures. There are also several display cases with a set of absolutely fabulous rifles of a very large caliber, many of which have a bell at the end of the barrel. Usually such hunters are armed with cartoons about Little Red Riding Hood and the Gray Wolf. But such boarding rifles, from which they shot, putting them on board, actually existed. And they were charged with large shots, which flew out of the trunk in the form of a small cloud and hit several targets at once on the deck of an enemy ship!
Impressive cannon shells with ready-made protrusions on the hull
Already an ancient cannon with typesetting barrel, XV century.
Breech-loading ship guns of the XVI century.
The drawback of the galleys was that it was difficult to mount artillery on the sides. But they could swim in the calm!
Despite all the improvements in naval artillery, stone cores against ships were used for a very long time. The last time the stone core of the Turkish 17-inch bombardment hit the English battleship Agamemnon in the 1915 year!
330 mm 1828 iron mortar
Heavy sea muskets and a chain core (below) to tear tackles and sails
Heavy anti-ship guns. At first they were like that ...
Then like that. Below, there’s a completely small hand gun, under the trunnions of which special mounts were made along the sides. Please note that all caps locks. That is, protection against boarding has been relevant for a very long time.
Gondolas and gondoliers
Which Venice without gondolas and gondolier songs? Therefore, it is not surprising that the museum has a whole hall dedicated to the gondolas and here you can see both their models and life-size gondolas themselves. The history of the gondola is as long as the history of Venice. So, the legend claims that at first the gondolas were of different colors and sizes. But it so happened that a certain doge fell in love with a beauty, near whose house boats of various colors constantly appeared. Thus, to the shame of the Doge, the neighbors were aware of all her love affairs. And then he came up with all the gondolas repainted in black to determine who drives them - a baker, a doctor or another admirer, it was impossible! There is a more realistic explanation - when at the beginning of the XVII century the city was visited by the plague, the gondolas that carried the corpses of the dead were repainted in black. And since there were a lot of such gondolas, it was easier to paint black and everything else than repaint again. And since there is nothing more permanent than temporary, this tradition of painting black gondolas has remained.
Gondola in the gondola hall
Typical Ferro
And here it is shown how “ferro” has changed over time
Despite the fact that gondolas have to swim in narrow channels, and their length is quite long, the gondolas have excellent maneuverability, and all because their body is ... not symmetrical! With a length of 11,05 meters and a width of 140 centimeters, the circumference of the left side of the gondola on the 24 centimeter is always longer than the right. But the bow and stern are raised specially so that the contact area of its bottom with water would be minimal, and it would be easier for the rower to choose the direction of movement.
Now you can visit the "Hall of ships." There is also a full-size gondola. It’s also a “Butsaurus”, but in a modern design, and of course, not as luxurious as the one that was destroyed by the French
The technique of rowing on a gondola is also not at all simple. The gondolier does not push away from the water, but makes oar movements that create a stream of water going back from the stern; accordingly, the gondola itself floats forward! This allows you to row a paddle lock in this way, similar to a cleverly curved pillar, also wooden, and of a complex shape called “forcola”. It is it that allows the rower to change the position of the oar for a leisurely forward movement, powerful and high-speed rowing, rotation in place and rotation of the boat, as well as its braking. Gondolier, without changing its position, can make the gondola even back up!
Nasal figure
To make the gondola light and strong and durable at the same time, exactly nine grades of wood and a special black varnish are used for its construction. In total, the gondola consists of 280 parts, both wooden and metal, and it is built exactly six months. The profession of builders of gondolas is a family one, because for a quality-made gondola you need to pay from 60 to 90 thousand euros, and strangers are simply not allowed into this profitable business!
In the “Ship Hall” you can see a real ship’s steam engine ...
The steam boiler that provided it with steam ...
And the 30's racing boat Baglietto Cattaneo (the record for speed in the water for its class is 150,6 km / h)
The nasal decoration of the gondola - “ferro” (“iron”) is therefore called that it is forged from an iron sheet. Although the “ferro” shape has changed over the centuries, the purpose of its installation is always the same: it serves as a counterweight to the gondolier, standing behind; and it also determines the height of the bridges under which the gondola can pass. Ferro has six ledges, symbolizing the six districts of Venice.
The usual clothes of a gondolier are a straw hat and a vest, and they also sing wonderful songs called barcarolla (from the Italian “barca” - boat), although not all, and ... for an additional fee!
And real Venetian fishing boats.
Ship Hall and other local attractions
Leaving the museum building, one should go along the same side of the street towards the wooden bridge at the gate across the canal. A door in the wall will lead you to the Ship Hall, where there are several life-size ships. There is also a piece of the hold of a steamboat with boilers and a steam engine, there are fishing boats with patchwork sails - in a word, a visit to this hall will be a very pleasant end for your excursion to the maritime museum. However, this is not all. Walking a little further you will find yourself near the only wooden bridge in Venice, and after crossing through it, you will appear in front of the gates to the Arsenal building, near which a very decent collection of marble Venetian lions in various poses has lined up. By the way, why is this lion a symbol of Venice? Each of the apostles simply had their own symbol in the form of an animal (Matthew had an angel as a symbol), but Mark had a lion. Well, and his holy relics just rest in the Cathedral of St. Mark on the square of the same name in the very center of the city.
Many interesting things can be seen right on the canal. Here, for example, typical Venetian houses
And here is a cozy dwelling with its own pier and ... linen drying between the windows.
In Venice, as in other cities in Italy, the tradition of drying clothes between houses does not die. Washing machines are considered an expensive pleasure, so many are still hand-washed, and also dried without spin! Therefore, you will walk along the narrow streets ... look up!
By the way, the streets in Venice are not just narrow, but very narrow. For example, such!
The only wooden bridge in Venice
Entrance to the building of the current Arsenal of the Italian Navy ...
And one of the "arsenal" lions
One of the few green islands of the Venetian lagoon ...
With this, we are leaving Venice - a unique city built on the water. But we leave only for a while. We will still have meetings with its sights!
- Vyacheslav Shpakovsky
- Mistress Museum of the Lady of the Mediterranean
Many, many "iron guys." One day at the Army Museum in Paris
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