ARSENAL

The word "arsenal" derived from the Arabic dār as-sinā'a means "house of manufacture". The Arsenal of Venice was the great shipyard of the city for nine centuries from 1104, the year in which its construction was ordered by the doge Ordelaffo Falier. Together with the districts of San Marco and Rialto, it was one of the main centers of activity in the city of the Doges, both a production center and the heart of the power of the Serenissima. An imposing complex covering about 45 hectares, most of Castello, the Arsenale was in fact a city within the city. The Arsenal was a city within a city, with its own construction sites, warehouses and workshops, and was the lifeblood of the surrounding neighborhoods, as well as of the businesses and homes of the arsenalotti, the shipwrights. In the 16th century, the level of specialization of the workers involved in the construction of the galleys of the Venetian fleet and merchant ships was so high that the beginnings of an assembly line were organized here, employing some 16,000 workers. This production method was one of the first examples of assembly line work in history! Among the most spectacular sites you will discover inside this ancient merchant and military complex is the Corderia della Tana. Rebuilt at the end of the 16th century by Antonio da Ponte, this place was once a shed where hemp used for the construction of mooring ropes was stored. Defended by artificial and natural canals and large ramparts, the arsenal remained in full operation until the end of the Second World War, when it was used as an air raid shelter. Today, the space has been divided between the Italian Navy and the Municipality of Venice. Since 2003, the Municipality of Venice has begun to use the structures to host temporary exhibitions related to the Biennale of Art and Architecture.

The Arsenale has two entrances. There is the portal with pedestrian access, accessible from the Campo dell' Arsenale, chiseled into a triumphal arch and considered locally as one of the first examples of Renaissance architecture. It houses, in its upper part, a giant sculpture representing a winged lion. This one seems to watch over four other "guardians", marble lions posted upstream of the portal. The other entrance to the Arsenal is accessible by water. It connects the inner basins to the San Marco canal. It is protected by two towers dating from the 16th century.