Piazza San Marco, Venice, Italy

Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, or National Library of St Mark's, (right), at dawn, built in Renaissance style in 1537-53 by Jacopo Sansovino, then extended by Vincenzo Scamozzi in 1588, on the Piazzetta San Marco, between the Piazza San Marco and the Venetian lagoon, Venice, Veneto, Italy. The 2-storey building is lined with a Doric arcade on the ground floor and Ionic arcade on the first floor, with sculptural decoration and a line of rooftop statues. The library houses an important collection of classical, Oriental and medieval codices and manuscripts. In the centre are the Columns of San Marco and San Todaro, with statues of the Byzantine saint San Teodoro Amasea and St Mark the evangelist in the form of a winged lion, 12th century, by Nicolo Barattieri. To the left is the Doge's Palace or Palazzo Ducale, begun 1340 and built in Venetian Gothic style. The historical centre of Venice is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Picture by Manuel Cohen

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1340 Amasea Arcade Barattieri Biblioteca Bibliotheque Colonna Doges Doric Ducale Evangelist Ionic Jacopo Lagoon Lamppost Marciana Nazionale Nicolo Patron Piazza Piazzetta Saint-marc Sansoviniana Sansovino Scamozzi Teodoro Todaro Veneto Venezia Vincenzo

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