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    The Construction of Venice, The Floating City: See More at

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    priya.tare00
    Venice, Italy is known as the "Floating City" because it consists of 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, rather than being built directly on land. To construct buildings on the islands, Venetians drove over 1 million wooden stakes into the sandy ground to form platforms above the water, then built upon those platforms. The wooden foundations have lasted for centuries because being submerged in salt water prevents decay and petrifies the wood over time. As a city surrounded by water, Venice was protected from invaders and became a powerful maritime city, though it began to decline in the 15th century and faces a new threat of sinking due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

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    The Construction of Venice, The Floating City: See More at

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    priya.tare00
    46 views2 pages
    Venice, Italy is known as the "Floating City" because it consists of 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, rather than being built directly on land. To construct buildings on the islands, Venetians drove over 1 million wooden stakes into the sandy ground to form platforms above the water, then built upon those platforms. The wooden foundations have lasted for centuries because being submerged in salt water prevents decay and petrifies the wood over time. As a city surrounded by water, Venice was protected from invaders and became a powerful maritime city, though it began to decline in the 15th century and faces a new threat of sinking due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

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    The Construction of Venice

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    The Construction of Venice

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    Venice, Italy is known as the "Floating City" because it consists of 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, rather than being built directly on land. To construct buildings on the islands, Venetians drove over 1 million wooden stakes into the sandy ground to form platforms above the water, then built upon those platforms. The wooden foundations have lasted for centuries because being submerged in salt water prevents decay and petrifies the wood over time. As a city surrounded by water, Venice was protected from invaders and became a powerful maritime city, though it began to decline in the 15th century and faces a new threat of sinking due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    46 views2 pages

    The Construction of Venice, The Floating City: See More at

    Uploaded by

    priya.tare00
    Venice, Italy is known as the "Floating City" because it consists of 118 small islands connected by canals and bridges, rather than being built directly on land. To construct buildings on the islands, Venetians drove over 1 million wooden stakes into the sandy ground to form platforms above the water, then built upon those platforms. The wooden foundations have lasted for centuries because being submerged in salt water prevents decay and petrifies the wood over time. As a city surrounded by water, Venice was protected from invaders and became a powerful maritime city, though it began to decline in the 15th century and faces a new threat of sinking due to rising sea levels caused by climate change.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
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    The Construction of Venice, the Floating City

    Venice, Italy, is known by several names, one of which is the Floating City. This is due to the fact that
    the city of Venice consists of 118 small islands connected by numerous canals and bridges. Yet, the
    buildings in Venice were not built directly on the islands. Instead, they were built upon wooden
    platforms that were supported by wooden stakes driven into the ground.
    See more at: http://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-europe/construction-venice-floating-city001750#sthash.pWExzSUe.dpuf
    The story of Venice begins in the 5 th century A.D. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire,
    barbarians from the north were raiding Romes former territories. In order to escape these raids, the
    Venetian population on the mainland escaped to the nearby marshes, and found refuge on the sandy
    islands of Torcello, Iesolo and Malamocco. Although the settlements were initially temporary in nature,
    the Venetians gradually inhabited the islands on a permanent basis. In order to have their buildings on
    a solid foundation, the Venetians first drove wooden stakes into the sandy ground. Then, wooden
    platforms were constructed on top of these stakes. Finally, the buildings were constructed on these
    platforms. A 17 th century book which explains in detail the construction procedure in Venice
    demonstrates the amount of wood required just for the stakes. According to this book, when the Santa
    Maria Della Salute church was built, 1,106,657 wooden stakes, each measuring 4 metres, were driven
    underwater. This process took two years and two months to be completed. On top of that, the wood
    had to be obtained from the forests of Slovenia, Croatia and Montenegro, and transported to Venice
    via water. Thus, one can imagine the scale of this undertaking.

    The use of wood as a supporting structure may seem as a surprise, since wood is relatively less
    durable than stone or metal. The secret to the longevity of Venices wooden foundation is the fact that
    they are submerged underwater. The decay of wood is caused by microorganisms, such as fungi and
    bacteria. As the wooden support in Venice is submerged underwater, they are not exposed to oxygen,
    one of the elements needed by microorganisms to survive. In addition, the constant flow of salt water
    around and through the wood petrifies the wood over time, turning the wood into a hardened stonelike structure.
    As a city surrounded by water, Venice had a distinct advantage over her land-based neighbours. For a
    start, Venice was secure from enemy invasions. For instance, Pepin, the son of Charlemagne,
    attempted to invade Venice, but failed as he was unable to reach the islands on which the city was
    built. Venice eventually became a great maritime power in the Mediterranean. For instance, in 1204,
    Venice allied itself with the Crusaders and succeeded in capturing the Byzantine capital,

    Constantinople. Nevertheless, Venice started to decline in the 15 th century, and was eventually
    captured by Napoleon in 1797 when he invaded Italy.
    As of today, the lagoon that has protected Venice from countless foreign invaders is the biggest threat
    to its survival. To the local Venetians, the flooding of the city seems to be a normal phenomenon, as
    the water level rises about a dozen times a year. These floodings are known as aqua alta (high
    water), and are generally caused by unusually high tides due to strong winds, storm surges, and
    severe inland rains. However, this is happening more frequently in recent years due to the rising sea
    level caused by climate change, which is starting to alarm the city. Thus, a number of solutions have
    been proposed to rescue Venice from sinking. One of these measures is the Mo.S.E. ( Modulo
    Sperimentale Elettromeccanico , or Experimental Electromechanical Module) Project. This involves
    the construction of 79 mobile floodgates which will separate the lagoon from the Adriatic when the tide
    exceeds one meter above the usual high-water mark. Nevertheless, some pessimistic observers
    doubt that such measures will be sufficient to preserve Venice forever, and that the city will eventually
    sink, just like the fabled city of Atlantis.

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