The ancient city on the water is considered a real open-air museum. Filled with romance and mystical legends, it has long become a real legend in which all couples in love dream of being. The special atmosphere of fabulous Venice, filled with sea air and elusive charm, gives rise to unique and unforgettable emotions.
Where is the Bridge of Sighs?
The mysterious city, entirely consisting of amazing architectural masterpieces, is especially proud of its bridges, which have become elegant symbols of Venice and have uniqueness. There are about 400 of them, and each of them holds an ancient history.
Sighs The bridge, located on St. Mark's Square, passes through the stunningly beautiful Canal Palace, the world's most famous Venetian attraction. Built at the beginning of the 17th century, the legendarya historical monument connected the court, located in the building of the Doge's Palace, and the old prison.
Unusual design
The most beautiful bridge of snow-white limestone was erected by the Venetian Antonio Conti, a descendant of the famous dynasty of architects. Decorated with sculptural compositions and openwork carvings, the Bridge of Sighs has an unusual design: it is one of the few structures with walls and a semicircular roof.
This external structure was explained by its original purpose - the transfer of prisoners from the courthouse to prison cells, and even the windows on both sides were covered with patterned marble bars. However, one convict still managed to make a daring escape from the gloomy casemate, in which he stayed for a year and a half, and he turned out to be the swindler Giacomo Casanova, known throughout the world for his love affairs.
Elegance of the structure
The heavy baroque bridge does not look like a heavy structure, but very elegant and visually light. Massive walls are decorated with exquisite pilasters depicting columns.
In the heart of the bridge, the architect placed a sculpture of the heavenly patron of ancient Venice, and next to it sits a stone winged lion, which is a symbol of the city on the water. By the way, not far from the bridge is the Cathedral of St. Mark, recommended for visiting by all tourists, which stores the relics of the apostle.
The Bridge of Sighs in Venice: legend 1
It is precisely with its location that such a beautiful name of the covered bridge is connected, although the legend proposedLord Byron, too far from romantic stories. It was believed that the sighs were emitted by the unfortunate convicts, passing the last way from the courthouse, where sentences were pronounced, to the terrible casemates of the prison, in which many of them remained forever.
Throwing sad glances through small windows with bars on the canal of beautiful Venice, those sentenced to death or long imprisonment mourned their ruined fate.
True, to be completely accurate, the ancient myth does not reflect the whole truth: at the time when the Bridge of Sighs was being built, there were no cruel executions and tortures, petty swindlers were sitting in prisons, and a view of Venice from stone windows was not so beautiful.
Romantic legend 2
Therefore, there is equally another legend, inspired by the fantasies of Venetian guides and supported by couples lining up, dreaming of finding family happiness forever. The romantic story says that these are the sighs of all happy lovers, whose hearts, overflowing with violent passion, beat in unison.
A fictitious belief tells about an amazing phenomenon of a historical structure: if you ride a gondola under a bridge when the sun hides behind the horizon, and kiss hard, then the feelings of loving people will never fade away. To tell the truth, there are such beautiful legends about other bridges in Venice, such as the beautiful and elegant Ri alto.
Sung in art originalbuilding
Now it is even strange to hear that once this not the most popular bridge in Venice was wanted to be demolished. It was believed that the baroque style did not fit into the nearby city architectural sights. As the Italians themselves say, the Bridge of Sighs has been preserved only due to the fact that its amazing aerial beauty inspired many writers and poets to create literary creations, but not only them.
Famous artists, delighted with the original design, captured it in their works. After that, the locals looked at the legendary Bridge of Sighs with completely different eyes. Italy, by the way, is not the only country in which the structure of such an unusual design is located.
But the thing is that such covered structures, but having different forms, will always be associated exclusively with the Venetian landmark, which is this kind of bridge.
