It's St. Mark's Day, and, if you happen to be in Venice (keep in mind that, starting today until July 14th, day-trippers are required to pay a "Venice access fee" of €5 to enter the city, a measure implemented by local authorities to regulate the flow of tourists), you can celebrate by visiting the renowned St. Mark's Basilica, which also houses the relics of the saint brought to Venice from Alexandria in 828 by two merchants, along with the famous Campanile.
Alternatively, you might want to treat yourself to a slice of St. Mark's cake from Dal Mas' pastry shop (View this photo).
While Venice celebrates its patron saint today, it has also got another local holiday dedicated to the St. Mark, November 21st, when it celebrates the Madonna della Salute, as today coincides with a national holiday in Italy - Liberation Day. This public holiday commemorates the end of Nazi-fascism during World War II.
If you are in Venice, a fitting way to honor this day would be to visit the Monument to the Partisan Woman located on the Riva dei Partigiani, near the Giardini, convenient if you're heading to the Biennale.
The Monument to the Partisan Woman was crafted by Italian sculptor, painter, and partisan Augusto Murer (1922-1985), who experienced the Resistance firsthand. It serves as a tribute to the women who actively fought against Nazi-fascism.
As mentioned in a previous post, sculptor Leoncillo Leonardi created the Monument to the Venetian Partisan in polychrome ceramic in 1957. Unfortunately, it was destroyed in a neo-fascist attack in 1961, leaving intact only the pedestal designed by Carlo Scarpa.
In response to this, a competition was held among Venetian sculptors to create a new statue. In 1969, Augusto Murer completed the bronze sculpture depicting a dying woman, symbolizing the Partisan, emerging from the water with her hands bound in front of her head.
Murer's statue is different from the neo-cubist monument by Leonardi that was destroyed: it represents indeed a dying woman tortured by Nazi-fascists, and tackles Resistance from the point of view of pain and sacrifice.
Architect Carlo Scarpa advised on the location and designed the stone pedestal for the statue, a floating structure conceived to support the artwork on the surface of the water, positioned lower than the observer's viewpoint. Carlo Scarpa's small dock is composed of cement pillars with square sections topped with Istrian stone heads emerging from the water at various heights.
The architect's solution contrasts for its modernist style with Murer's partisan, but also creates a geometry of stepping stones offering multiple viewpoints. In much the same way, the monument dialogues with the sea as the tide engulfs, hides and then reveals it again, offering every time to viewers a different point of view.
The chosen location is symbolical as it is near where Leonardi's statue once stood and where the body of a partisan woman, shot and thrown into the water, was found.
With the rise of right-wing ideologies across Europe, the monument to the partisan woman prompts reflection on democracy, freedom, and equality, so take a moment to contemplate the values embodied by this powerful statue.
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