The ancient city on the water is considered a real open-air museum. Filled with romance and mystical traditions, he has long become a real legend, in which all couples in love dream of being. The special atmosphere of fabulous Venice, drunk with sea air and elusive charm, gives rise to unique and forever in the memory of emotions.
Where is the Bridge of Sighs located?
The mysterious city, consisting entirely of amazing architectural masterpieces, is especially proud of the bridges, which have become elegant symbols of Venice and have originality. There are about 400 of them, and each of them keeps an ancient history.
Sighs The bridge, located on St. Mark's Square, passes through the stunningly beautiful Palace Canal - the world-famous Venetian attraction. Built at the beginning of the XVII century, the legendary 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 built by the Venetian Antonio Conti - a native 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 those few structures that have walls and a semicircular roof.
This external structure was explained by its original purpose - the transition of prisoners from the courthouse to prison cells, and even the windows on both sides were covered with patterned marble grilles. However, one convict nevertheless managed to make a daring escape from the gloomy casemate, in which he spent a year and a half, and he turned out to be a con man known to the whole world for his amorous adventures, Giacomo Casanova.
Grace of the building
The heavy baroque-style bridge does not look like a heavy building, but very elegant and visually light. Powerful 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 him 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 all tourists , which stores the relics of the apostle.
Bridge of Sighs in Venice: Legend No. 1
It is with its location that such a beautiful name for the covered bridge is connected, although the legend proposed by Lord Byron is too far from romantic stories. It was believed that unhappy convicts, who traveled the last way from the courthouse where the sentences were pronounced, sighed to terrible prison casemates, in which many of them remained forever.
Throwing sad glances through the small windows with bars at the canal of beautiful Venice, those sentenced to death or long imprisonment grieved for their ruined fate.
True, to be exact, the ancient myth does not reflect the whole truth: at the time when the Sighs of the Bridge was built, there were no cruel executions and tortures, small swindlers were in prison, and the view of Venice from the stone windows was not so beautiful.
Romantic Tradition No. 2
Therefore, on an equal footing, there is another legend, inspired by the fantasies of the Venetian guides and supported by lining up couples who dream forever to find family happiness. The romantic story says that these are the sighs of all the happy lovers, whose hearts, overwhelmed with passionate passion, beat in unison.
A fictional belief tells about the amazing phenomenon of a historical building: if you ride on a gondola under a bridge when the sun hides behind the horizon and kiss hard, the feelings of loving people will never fade. If we are to tell the truth, then such beautiful legends are composed of other bridges in Venice, for example, the beautiful and elegant Rialto.
The original construction celebrated in art
Now it’s even strange to hear that once this not the most popular bridge in Venice they wanted to demolish. It was believed that the Baroque style did not fit into the adjacent urban architectural sights. As the Italians themselves say, the Bridge of Sighs was preserved only due to the fact that its amazing airy beauty inspired many writers and poets to create literary works, but not only them.
Famous artists, delighted with the original design, imprinted it in their works. After that, the locals looked with completely different eyes at the legendary Bridge of Sighs. Italy, by the way, is not the only country in which the structure of such an unusual structure 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 a bridge of this kind.