The ten thousand customs of Venice are inseparable from the sparkling water, the wind and rain to see the tide, but also inseparable from the gondola that highlights the owner's artistic position and gently shakes your dream, and it is inseparable from the small bridge that listens to the wind and sings and depends on the water. We cross countless classic bridges in Europe, such as tower bridge in London, New Bridge in Paris, France, Louis I Bridge in Porto, Portugal, Charles Bridge in Prague, Czech Republic, and Szechenyi Chain Bridge in Hungary, these bridges are spectacular, beautiful and classic, but they are not as small and agile as Venice. These smart bridges are like notes on a stave, connecting the gorgeous and the dilapidated, the graceful and the quiet, the glory and the scars between the corners of Venice, and playing a romantic, beautiful and rhythmic piano song.
Venice, which is almost one-tenth the size of Wuzhen in China, has more than 400 bridges, which are accompanied by water and boats, looking at the light and shadow of ancient buildings, and lamenting the rise and fall of Venice. As the largest concentration of human, material and financial resources in Europe, Venice was once rich and invincible. The abundance of money allowed Venice to squander enough money, so the bridges here, though numerous, were by no means identical. The peak of power created the magnificence of Venice, and also created a bridge with its own charm. The most famous is the bridge of sighs on the Kang River at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom, the great poet Byron's Bridge of Sighs (ponte dei sospiri).
Bridge of sighs
The 400-year-old Baroque bridge is made of white limestone with stone bars on the windows. It's not so much a bridge as it is a small enclosed house on a canal. Because the Bridge of Sighs connects the magnificent Ducal Palace with the dark and damp prison, and is the only way for criminals to reach the prison after the trial in the Ducal Palace, there are only two small windows with holes on the side facing the canal. On the bridge of sighs several meters long, the life of the criminal is rewritten, a human being, a hell. In his long poem, Byron says, "After passing through this small narrow road, the prisoners will no longer be able to see the sea, so they let out a sigh and bid farewell to the world." ”
This sigh is a helplessness for the fate of losing his freedom, and it is also a condemnation of betrayal of love. Legend has it that when a death row prisoner crossed this bridge, he saw his lover making love to Xin Huan, and he could not help but sigh in the sky, and there was nowhere to complain about desolation. The French female singer sang, "On the bridge of sighs, I can't laugh, I use the velvet voice to tell the love and heart." Today's Bridge of Sighs, because of this legend, has become a symbol of love, and the movie "A Little Romance" was filmed here. It is said that couples sit on the gondola and when they pass the Bridge of Sighs, kiss affectionately under the bridge, and love can last forever. But how can love be eternal? Maybe it's just because it can't be eternal that people hope and expect it.
Rialto Bridge
Along with the Bridge of Sighs is the Ponte rialto on venice's Grand Canal. This bridge is more historical than the Bridge of Sighs, dating back more than 900 years. It started as a wooden bridge, then as a suspension bridge, and finally as a stone bridge today. In the change of history, the Rialto Bridge has changed its material, but it cannot change its importance and prosperity. It was once the commercial center of Venice and a frequent visitor to the writings of literary giants. Sherlock, the Jewish merchant in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, says "What news on the rialto?" and the English poetess Browning's Sonnets of Portuguese also says "the soul's rialto hath its merchandise." The stern of the classic Venetian gondola, that crescent-shaped symbol, is the symbol of rialto. If you go back in time thousands of years ago, people will see the gondola full of dignitaries passing under the bridge, and the cargo ships returning from full loads also pass under the bridge, and the people on both sides of the strait are full of people, and the two sides of the strait are bustling and lively.
Today, there are many restaurants on both sides of the strait. It was not yet dusk, but the lights were bright. Standing on the crowded bridge, looking at the railing, the gondola shook lightly, shaking away the noise. The buildings of various colors are flanked on either side, as if they were a mezzanine road welcoming ships. Seabirds soar over the canals and seem to love the hustle and bustle. From time to time, the water bus, venice's main means of transport, passes under a bridge made entirely of white marble, driving away the silence that should have been dusk with a rumbling sound. Night is near, but the silence is still gone.
Dusk on the Rialto Bridge
The bustling and lively Rialto Bridge, also known as the Commercial Bridge, has been the most famous business district in Venice since ancient times, and the merchants gathered and are known as the "Water Wall Street" of Venice. It connects to the traditional Venetian market on one side and the trendy brand streets of St. Mark's Square on the other. This bridge spans important passages between the main islands in a unique shape. In the middle of the bridge, there is a pavilion and a floating pavilion at the top of the bridge. From the 15th century to the present day, the bridge is lined with shops on both sides. Although the prosperity of the Rialto Bridge today cannot be said to be the same as that of that year, as Byron said, "The glory of Venice has passed, but the abundance is still there; the city can be poured, the mosquitoes can fade, only the beauty of nature does not die; she is the joy of all celebrations, the ecstasy of the world, the Italian masquerade!" ”
Palace of Gold
Around the corner near the Rialto Marina is the Ca' d'Oro, built in the 15th century. Some people say that if the architecture along the coast is likened to the granular jewels on the neck of the Grand Canal, then the Golden Palace is the jewel in the crown of the Grand Canal. The building, made up of marble columns and beautiful curved balconies, is one of the most outstanding Gothic buildings in Venice, once decorating the façade with gilding and supporting elaborate windows with Corinthian columns. Although this famous building has been converted into a museum and houses the paintings of Titian, Tintoretto, Mandy and other masters, if it were not for the daughter's free, we "blind" in painting would not have set foot here. Standing on the exquisite balcony, the night is already dark, and the little lights reflected on the canal seem to remind us that Venice, the once brightest star on the Mediterranean Sea, has fallen.
In Venice, what other bridge can hold up the sky of Venice's rhythmic bridge? It should be Ponte dell'accademia. It is the third small bridge to span the Grand Canal in addition to the Scarlutz Bridge and the Rialto Bridge, built in the 19th century. Originally a steel bridge, it has become today's wooden bridge. Although the Accademia Bridge itself is "not amazing", the postcard Chiesa di santa maria della salute was filmed here.
College Bridge
If the House of Gold is a masterpiece of Venetian Gothic architecture, then the Church of Santa Maria della Ankon is a masterpiece of Venetian Baroque architecture. When the Black Death was raging here in the 17th century, the government of the Republic of Venice built this white church dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The large octagonal domed main hall is surrounded by six chapels, facing the entrance to the Grand Canal and welcoming the rising of the sun. In the pen of the American writer Henry James, the church is like "a noblewoman standing at the door of the salon." Her dome and scroll decorations, fan-edged buttresses and statues make up the ornate crown, and her wide steps cascading to the ground resemble the motifs of a robe. This "noble lady" is not only graceful and luxurious on the outside, but also full of artistic masterpieces on the inside. Titian's Coronation of St. Mark and the Zenith showing Old Testament stories and Tintoretto's The Wedding of Ghana allow the church to "coexist in wisdom and beauty."
Church of Our Lady of Ankon
The bridges of Venice connect large and small canals, and also connect the vicissitudes and legends of history. After the Venetian Renaissance, a number of state-run brothels were established, and those legal prostitutes stood on the bridges of Venice and opened their chests to attract customers. And we, standing on the bridge, envision the beauty of the poet Bian Zhilin's "you stand on the bridge and look at the scenery, and the people who watch the scenery look at you upstairs; the bright moon decorates your windows, and you decorate other people's dreams."