door of the arsenal

The classical triumphal arch was completed in 1460, presumably as an assertion of the ancient roots of Venetian power. It is derived from the Arco dei Sergii in the Venetian colony of Pula, now in Croatia. The capitals were, as Ruskin suggests, re-used from an earlier building, perhaps from Torcello. It is associated - though there seems to be no clear evidence - with Antonio Gambello, proto for the rebuilding of San Zaccaria. On its place in the Venetian rhetoric of Roman power see Brown (1996) pp.108ff.

[Version 0.05: May 2008]