Oct 2019: Triumphs & Tragedies of Venice
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their regular monthly meeting on Friday 4th October and were fascinated listening to Dr Duncan Phillips' Talk about a different aspect of Venice. Since he qualified as a Chartered Building Surveyor in 1989 he has had a passion for and only surveys historic listed buildings. It is specific and specialised. His entire career has been devoted to them. He chairs the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors; is very involved and he wrote the standards all surveyors have to follow when they do this work. He also teaches.
He talked about Glorious Venice - Triumphs and Tragedies of Venice. He explained about the downside, what is going on with it; not fixable in his estimation. Despite the Italian government passing a "Special Law" pledging to spend whatever is necessary to save Venice, there is political corruption and poor workmanship being carried out. The medieval floor plan remains unchanged and there is an abundance of beauty and history to Venice but it is heavily damaged.
Duncan showed many photographs of buildings and specific architecture in Venice. All tourists head for St Mark's Square, the Doges Palace, Campanile etc and it can be swamped with people in the confined space and is actually causing problems in itself. There are many magnificent imitations of the famous Venice buildings all over the world.
Strategically the location of Venice is an important part of the story, its growth and development since the 15th century and its origins a long time before that. Being a sea facing port on to mainland Europe was strategically important. Originally the actual area of Venice was mainly marshy, mud flats with only about five feet of water. To build Venice it required stone/marble, clay/bricks and wood which were all obtainable from the surrounding areas.
Duncan showed pictures of the bundles of wood which were floated down to Venice and then being thumped into place to support the buildings. Wood does not decay or rot if it is covered in water. There are millions of these supports hammered into the mud; on top of these are the stones which create a waterproofing surface on top of which the buildings were erected. Because of the high use of bigger boats/cruise ships etc the walls are getting "wash out" causing large gaps and instability leading to buildings collapsing.
In Venice there are a beautiful combination of Italian, Byzantine, Islamic etc types of architecture, blended together to create its own classic Palladian architecture and specific style. There are also Gothic styles.
Duncan showed examples of bricks used in the construction of Venice. Many of them were made of different coloured clay and corrupted with stones which resulted in poor quality porous bricks. Resulting in moisture rising and structural failures. The only remedy would be to rebuild but that is not a considered option so there is continuous work being carried out to repair the seriously damaged buildings.
Another problem affecting Venice is climate change and higher water levels. He showed many examples of paintings by famous people, of Venice, where we could see the water levels and he compared these to the levels of today which are significantly higher. Sea levels are higher and it is also affected by the Asian global plate, which Venice sits on, moving under the European plate. So Venice is sinking which cannot be stopped. Fundamental construction problems, buildings built inherently poorly, salt from the sea water, rising sea levels, cruise ships, tourists - a huge challenge - probably the best way is to repair the buildings as and when needed.
This is just a synopsis of Duncan's interesting talk. He answered several questions and he was given a hearty thanks. A very enjoyable afternoon was had by all.
Diane Stoner
Speaker Coordinator