Three columns on Venice

Dear Gentle Reader,

This picture shows wooden columns in Venice. Well, the peeping tops of them. 

e-Builders in the e-audience might call them piles, as in piles to drive into the mud to get down to bedrock to provide a foundation for buildings.

Or, in this case, they provide a navigational aid to the maritime traffic in the Venetian Lagoon.

If they were all removed, they would form a pretty big pile, but that is not my point of interest, today.

As has been pointed out, Venice is fairly old and she has bought herself luxuries like war galleys, paintings, and beautiful homes to live and work in.

She has always been a stylish lady, and she has slavishly supported her own arts. For example, since 1895 she has supported the biennale, a biannual modern arts exhibition.

This is a well-travelled, well-learned lady.

We can see it in everywhere in Venice. We can see it in her columns. 

We can see it in this first column, the one standing beside us.

Most of us know our standard Greek columns, which form the three classical orders of architecture: Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. 

For those who want a refresher these are: 

Doric (no base, fluted shaft, no capital{capital is the ornamentation at the top of the shaft, connecting the shaft to the part of the building the shaft supports}); 

Ionic (with a base, sometimes fluted shaft, with a capital like a rolled up scroll); and 

Corinthian (elaborate base, smooth shaft, capital with luxuriant leaves). 

For the finicky ones amongst you, we can add the two Roman additions to the classical orders. 

First, the Tuscan (or Roman Doric) (with a base and a capital of alternating disks, smooth shaft). 

Last, the Composite (strong base, smooth shaft, elaborate capital blending Ionic and Corinthian elements).

Done? Essentially, we are. 

At least, from a Western perspective.

But not if we look east.

And we know that the Venetians not only looked east, they traded with the East. And sometimes they battled the East, too. 

They certainly had extensive land holdings in the East... 

So the Venetians had a wider perspective...

If we look to the East, we find columns not talked about in our standard Western syllabus.

For example, we find Syrian columns. 

Syrian columns are thick, rectilinear columns decorated with vegetative scenes on their faces, no base to speak of, but elaborately carved rectilinear capitals with further vegetative details.

This column, the second one we are looking at, is found, like the previous one, in the Pallazo San Marco, in front of the Basilica San Marco. 

There are also Syrian columns, with classical Greek orders on top of them, in the old Venetian hospital on the main island, in the Campo di San Giovanni San Paolo.

So now we are out of our comfort zone only by traveling geographically, to the East, and by traveling slightly backwards in time.

Lets travel forward in time for our third column... we can find this column all over modern Venice. 

This column, our third, is very slight and very slender. 

It breaks with all traditions because, while the column has flutings, the flutings are at right angles to the direction of the column...

I know of no name yet, so I shall name our third column...

...The modern column...

The modern column (Modern column?) is found everywhere in Venice.

It appears to be composite, but in its building materials. 

It has an internal core of steel piping, and the decorative, visible section of the column is from a sleeve of orange piping. 

This allows the Modern column to take an irregular, serpentine appearance, sort of like baroque Solomonic columns. The Modern column also has flutings, like the Doric column has, yet its flutings run perpendicular to the direction of the piping. 

This allows the piping to bend easily and provides its charming, though disconcerting, irregular serpentine effect.

So there you have it, Gentle Readers. 

Three columns on Venice.

Visit in person and I guarantee you will find more.

Tschuess,

Chris