page_title: Doge's Palace
section_title: Courtyard
hierarchical_section_title: Doge's Palace / Description / Courtyard
caption_attribution_description: English: The scala dei giganti (Giants' staircaise) surrounded by the statues of Mars and Neptune, in the courtyard of the Doge's palace, in Venice, Italy.
context_page_description: The Doge's Palace is a palace built in Venetian Gothic style, and one of the main landmarks of the city of Venice in northern Italy. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice, the supreme authority of the former Venetian Republic. It was founded in 1340, and extended and modified in the following centuries. It became a museum in 1923, and is one of the 11 museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia.
context_section_description: The north side of the courtyard is closed by the junction between the palace and St. Mark’s Basilica, which used to be the Doge's chapel. At the center of the courtyard stand two well-heads dating from the mid-16th century.
  In 1485, the Great Council decided that a ceremonial staircase should be built within the courtyard. The design envisaged a straight axis with the rounded Foscari Arch, with alternate bands of Istrian stone and red Verona marble, linking the staircase to the Porta della Carta, and thus producing one single monumental approach from the Piazza into the heart of the building. Since 1567, the Giants’ Staircase is guarded by Sansovino's two colossal statues of Mars and Neptune, which represents Venice’s power by land and by sea, and therefore the reason for its name. Members of the Senate gathered before government meetings in the Senator’s Courtyard, to the right of the Giants’ Staircase.
caption: The Scala dei Giganti, flanked by Mars and Neptune.
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