Departure of the Bucentaur, by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793): in the distance at the right, the Doge's Palace, the Piazzetta, the campanile and the domes of St Mark's

The Bucentaur (from Venetian bucintoro) was the state galley of the doges of Venice, on which, every year on Ascension Day up to 1789, they put out to the Adriatic in order to perform the ceremony of wedding Venice to the sea. Departure of the Bucentaur. ... Departure of the Bucentaur. ... The Lagoon Looking toward Murano from the Fondamenta Nuove (1765-70) Oil on canvas, 31,7 x 52,7 cm Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge Francesco Guardi (October 5, 1712- January 1, 1793), Venetian painter, was a pupil of Canaletto, and followed his style so closely that pictures are very frequently attributed... Doges Palace The Doges Palace (Ital. ... San Marco in the evening St Marks Basilica (Italian: Basilica di San Marco in Venezia) is the most famous of the churches of Venice and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. ... Venetian could mean of Venice of the venetia territory of the Republic of Venice of the venet nation the Venetian language The Venetian, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Nevada A venetian blind - a horizontally slatted window blind. ... A French galley and Dutch men-of-war off a port by Abraham Willaerts, painted 17th century. ... Grand Procession of the Doge, 16th century Doges Palace Complex For some thousand years, the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice was the Doge (Duke). ... For other meanings see Ascension (disambiguation) The Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven forty days after his resurrection from the dead. ... The Adriatic Sea is an arm of the Mediterranean Sea separating the Apennine peninsula (Italy) from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges. ...

Origins of the name

The name bucintoro is derived from the Venetian buzino d'oro, or golden bark, latinized in the Middle Ages as bucentaurus, on the analogy of a supposed Greek "ox-centaur." This led to the explanation of the name as derived from the head of an ox having served as the galley's figurehead. This derivation is, however, fanciful; the name bucentaurus is unknown in Greek mythology, and the figurehead of the bucentaurs, of which representations have come down to us (illustration, above right), is the lion of Saint Mark. The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ... Analogy is either the cognitive process of transferring information from a particular subject (the analogue or source) to another particular subject (the target), or a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process. ... Binomial name Bos taurus Linnaeus, 1758 Cattle are domesticated ungulates, a member of the subfamily Bovinae of the family Bovidae. ... A figurehead is a person, usually in a political role, who may hold an important title or office yet executes little actual power. ... Greek mythology consists of an extensive collection of narratives detailing the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, which were first envisioned and disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition. ... Mark the Evangelist (1st century) is traditionally believed to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, drawing much of his material from Peter. ...

The name bucentaur seems, indeed, to have been given to any great and sumptuous Venetian galley. Du Cange quotes from the chronicle of the doge Andrea Dandolo (died 1354): cum uno artificioso et solemni Bucentauro, super quo venit usque ad S. Clementem, quo jam pervenerat principalior et solemnior Bucentaurus cum consiliariis, &c. The last and most magnificent of the bucentaurs, built in 1729, was destroyed by the French in 1798 less for the sake of its golden decorations than as a political gesture. Remains of it are preserved at Venice in the Museo Civico Correr and in the Arsenal, where there is also a fine model of it. Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange or Ducange (Amiens, December 18, 1610 – Paris, October 23, 1688) was a distinguished philologist and historian of the Middle Ages and Byzantium. ... The Porta Magna at the Venetian Arsenal The Venetian Arsenal (Italian: Arsenale di Venezia) is a shipyard and naval depot that played a leading role in Venetian empire-building. ...

Sposalizio del Mar

The "Marriage of the Adriatic", or more correctly "Marriage of the Sea" (in Italian, Sposalizio del Mar) was a ceremony symbolizing the maritime dominion of Venice. The ceremony, established about 1000 to commemorate the Doge Orseolo II's conquest of Dalmatia, was originally one of supplication and placation, Ascension Day being chosen as that on which the doge set out on his expedition. The form it took was a solemn procession of boats, headed by the doge's nave, from 1311 the Bucentaur, out to sea by the Lido port. A prayer was offered that "for us and all who sail thereon the sea may be calm and quiet", whereupon the doge and the others were solemnly aspersed with holy water, the rest of which was thrown into the sea while the priests chanted Asperges me hyssopo, et mundabor. To this ancient ceremony a sacramental character was given by Pope Alexander III in 1177, in return for the services rendered by Venice in the struggle against the Emperor Frederick I. The pope drew a ring from his finger and, giving it to the doge, bade him cast such a one into the sea each year on Ascension Day, and so wed the sea. Henceforth the ceremonial, instead of placatory and expiatory, became nuptial. Every year the doge dropped a consecrated ring into the sea, and with the words Desponsamus te, mare ("We wed thee, sea") declared Venice and the sea to be indissolubly one. Departure of the Bucentaur, by Francesco Guardi (1712-1793): in the distance at the right, the Doges Palace, the Piazzetta, the campanile and the domes of St Marks The Bucentaur (from Venetian bucintoro) was the state galley of the doges of Venice, on which, every year on Ascension... // Events World Population 300 million. ... Pietro II Orseolo was the Doge of Venice from 991 to 1009. ... Dalmatia (Croatian Dalmacija, Italian Dalmazia) is a region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea, (mostly) in modern Croatia, spreading between the island of Rab in the northwest and the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. ... For other meanings see Ascension (disambiguation) The Ascension is one of the great feasts in the Christian liturgical calendar, and commemorates the bodily Ascension of Jesus into Heaven forty days after his resurrection from the dead. ... Lido and the Venetian Lagoon. ... The baptismal font at St. ... A sacrament is a Christian rite that mediates divine grace. ... Alexander III, né Orlando Bandinelli (c. ... Events November 25 - Baldwin IV of Jerusalem and Raynald of Chatillon defeat Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. ... Frederick in a 13th century Chronicle Frederick I (German: Friedrich I. von Hohenstaufen)(1122 – June 10, 1190), also known as Friedrich Barbarossa (Frederick Redbeard) was elected king of Germany on March 4, 1152 and crowned Holy Roman Emperor on June 18, 1155. ... The Atonement is the central doctrine of Christianity: everything else derives from it. ... The examples and perspective in this article do not represent a worldwide view. ...

See also

• Venice
• History of Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance

Location within Italy Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venessia in the local dialect), the city of canals, is the capital of the region of Veneto and of the province of Venice, 45°26′N 12°19′E, population 271,663 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ... This is the history of Italy during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. ...

Source

This article incorporates text from the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, a publication in the public domain. Supporters contend that the Eleventh Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1910-1911) represents the sum of human knowledge at the beginning of the 20th century; indeed, it was advertised as such. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...