User:Richard Requa/Fondaco dei Tedeschi

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Lead [Isabella]

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi (Venetian: Fòntego dei Todeschi, in literal English, "warehouse of the Germans") is a historic building in Venice, northern Italy, situated on the Grand Canal near the Rialto Bridge. It was a hostel and a warehouse of the city's German (Tedeschi) merchants and their imports. After being destroyed by fire twice, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi was rebuilt in a Renaissance architectural style. It not only endured but also continued to serve its original purpose. Today, this building is used as a luxury mall in Venice's Grand Canal.

Etymology [Samuel]

The word fondaco comes from the Arabic funduq (فُنْدُق), which refers to a combination warehouse, shop, and inn, for traveling merchants. The word funduq was also used to describe accommodation for European merchants in Eastern port towns. Tedeschi means Germans.

History [Isabella]

The Fondaco dei Tedeschi was first constructed in 1228 next to the Rialto Bridge, it was later rebuilt twice between 1505 and 1508, after its destruction in a fire in 1505. Giorgione was contracted to paint the facade of the building, by the Council of Ten during December 1508. It's reconstruction created a practical four-floor building that encircles a large inner courtyard, it indicated the beginning of redevelopment in the Rialto region. Its architecture is typical of the Italian Renaissance style, drawing inspiration of theatre design and festival decoration. This can be seen in the story heights of the building, therefore it was one of the first buildings in Venice built with this type of style. It is specifically identified and constructed for the commerce and trade. Similar to the Fondaco dei Turchi, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi served as a multifunctional place, blending the roles of a palace, warehouse, marketplace, and restricting living quarters. However, this establishment primarily fed German merchants from cities like Nuremberg, Judenburg, and Augsburg.

Before the fire from 1505, the building consisted of smaller buildings inside that offered storage facilities and accomodation for the German merchants. It played a crucial role in the success of the Venetian Republic as a hub for distributing goods to and receiving them from the North and the East. The fire caused a serious risk to the longstanding trade networks that had flourished there for centuries. Following a practice typical of the eastern Mediterranean and beyond, the ground floor surrounding the courtyard was designated for rental storerooms and accessible by water, while the upper levels were reserved for merchants' living quarters and communal dining areas. The "new" building had become modern and was adorned with vibrant polychrome frescoes often characterized as dynamic and vividly colorful. These frescoes were by Titian and Giorgione, but most of these are now gone, with only small traces of color left. Some pieces of the frescoes have been saved and can be seen at the Ca’ d’Oro and the Academia Galleries. It also became a standard of architectural excellence and magnificence within the city.

New organization of the Courtyard.

The Fondaco has seen both repair and destruction over its history. However, the building's purpose stayed mostly unchanged throughout history, and German merchants occupied it constantly, shortly after it was built in the 13th century, until Napoleon's arrival in 1806. Upon arrival at the Fondaco, Germans had to perform a ceremonial handover of their weapons to the Fontegher, the Venetian authority in charge of room assignments, highlighting the formality of the process. As one of the city's most influential merchant colonies, the Fondaco became a key trading hub, facilitating the flow of goods from the East toward the Alps. The Venetian Republic profited from these transactions by taking a commission on the trades conducted there.

In the 20th century, the building served as the Venice headquarters of the Poste Italiane. In 2008, the building was sold to the Benetton Group who asked the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas to plan a new shopping centre to be incorporated into the Renaissance building. Benetton promised to transfer 6 million Euro to the city budget in exchange for building permits handed over by the end of 2012. This caused protests among the groups campaigning for preservation of the Italy's historical heritage. Today, the building houses a T Galleria duty-free store as part of the DFS Group.

Description [Samuel]

There are only a few descriptions that exist about the Fondaco before the 1505 fire that destroyed the structure. One of these accounts is by a German Friar who described the Fondaco as having two central courtyards which faced the Grand Canal. There is also a map by Jacopo de’ Barbari that shows that the Fondaco was made up of many smaller buildings which were used for storage and housing. The original Fondaco can also be seen in Vittore Carpaccio’s painting Miracle of the Relic of the Cross at the Ponte di Rialto, were the Fondaco is visible in the background.

The Fondaco rebuilt after the fire, had one central courtyard surrounded by four walls, formed by the building itself. The building now had 56 rooms and many additional storage facilities. With this increase in size the fondaco could now house over one hundred merchants, an equal number of servants, and many additional administrative officials. The new Fondaco was built with architectural elements which can be seen in various other buildings. The new Fondaco had a set of stairs similar to one that can be found in the Wakala al-Ghauri in Cairo which was built around the same time. The new Fondaco also features larger arches on the lower level which were paired with smaller arches above. This is similar to the design of the Great Mosque in Damascus. On the canal there is a five bay loggia where merchandise as well as arriving merchents would have been unloaded from boats. During the recent reconstruction a new loggia was added, which now houses several escalators. There are few decorative elements that remain on the building today. Of the few remaining decorative elements one is a large wall clock which was installed in 1571. Another detail are the merlons which line the roof and have circular cut-outs and are topped with spheres.

Today the fondaco serves as a department store. It houses a restaurant, cafe, souvenir shops, and shops that sell items made by local craftsmen. The courtyard contains a medieval well, and now provides space for people to gather. This main courtyard is under a glass and steel roof, which resembles a cassettoni ceiling but is and forms a new floor above the courtyard.

All four exterior façades of the Fondaco were frescoed by Giorgione or Titian in 1508. Only fragments of theses frescoes survive today, do to deterioration by the salty and humid climate of the lagoon. The few fragments that survive, are now housed in the Ca'D'Oro in Venice. Many of the frescoes that are now lost were documented by Antonio Maria Zanetti (the younger) in the mid-eighteenth century In his folio titled Varie pitture a fresco de' principali maestri Veneziani. Some of the etchings in his folio are by him, while a few were by Jacopo Piccino form a century earlier.Among the art works at the Fondaco documented by Zanetti are the etchings the Female Head and Bust originally by Titian and the Fragment of a Woman originally by Giorgione.

The interior also features outstanding artworks by Paolo Veronese, Titian and Jacopo Tintoretto, also mostly disappeared.