- Venetian Arsenal
The Venetian Arsenal ( _it. Arsenale di Venezia) is a
shipyard and naval depot that played a leading role in Venetian empire-building. It was one of the most important areas ofVenice , lying in the Castello sestiere.The Byzantine-style establishment may have existed as early as the
8th century , though the present structure is usually said to have been begun in1104 during the reign ofOrdelafo Faliero , although there is no evidence for such a precise date. It definitely existed by the earlythirteenth century and is mentioned in Dante's "Inferno". The name probably comes from Arabic "Dar al Sina’a" ("Dockyard") and the concept was clearlyIslam ic as much as Byzantine.Initially the state
dockyard worked merely to maintain naval ships built privately, but in1320 the Arsenal Nuovo was built, much larger than the original. It enabled all the state's navy and the largermerchant ship s to be both constructed and maintained in one place. The Arsenal incidentally became an important centre forrope manufacture, while housing for the arsenal workers grew up outside its walls.Venice developed methods of mass-producing warships in the Arsenal, including the frame-first system to replace the Roman hull-first practice. The new system was much faster and required less wood. At the peak of its efficiency in the early
16th century , the Arsenal employed some 16,000 people who apparently were able to produce nearly oneship each day, and could fit out, arm, and provision a newly-builtgalley with standardized parts on a production-line basis not seen again until theIndustrial Revolution .The staff of the Arsenal also developed new
firearm s at an early date, beginning withbombard s in the1370 s and numerous small arms against the Genoese a few years later. Improvements inhandgun s led to their muzzle velocity (and therefore their ability to penetratearmor ) exceeding that of thecrossbow . The Venetian "condottieri " leader,Bartolomeo Colleoni , is usually given credit as being the first to mount the Arsenal's new lighter-weightartillery on mobile carriages for field use.The Arsenal's main gate, the "Porta Magna", was built in about
1460 and was the firstClassical revival structure to be built in Venice. It was perhaps built byAntonio Gambello from a design byJacopo Bellini . Twolion s taken fromGreece situated beside it were added in1687 . One of the lions, known as thePiraeus Lion , is notable for having been defaced with lengthy runic inscriptions carved in the11th century by Scandinavian mercenary soldiers.The "Arsenal Novissimo" was begun in
1473 . It enabled the creation of a system similar to anassembly line , in which hulls were constructed in the newer areas of the Arsenal before being fitted out in the old Arsenal.In the late
16th century , the Arsenal's designers experimented with larger ships as platforms for heavy naval guns. The most impressive was the "galleass", already used at Lepanto, and developed from the old merchanting "great galley". It was huge, with sails as well as oars, and was virtually a floating fortress, with guns mounted on wheeled carriages along the sides in the modern fashion. It was slow and unwieldy in battle, however, and few were ever built. The "galleon ", also developed at the Arsenal, was an armed sailing ship, a slimmer version of the merchant "round ship ". It was useful in major naval battles, but not in the small bays and off the frequentlee shore s of theDalmatia n coast.Significant parts of the Arsenal were destroyed under
Napoleon ic rule, and later rebuilt to enable the Arsenal's present use as anaval base . It is also used as a research centre, an exhibition venue during theVenice Biennale and is home to a historic boat preservation centre.See also
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Arsenal External links
* [http://www.thetis.it/UK/arsenale/arsenale.htm thetis - What is the Arsenale]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?q=venice,+italy&ll=45.436346,12.352860&spn=0.006008,0.020548&t=k&hl=en Satellite image from Google Maps]
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