St. Mark's Campanile

St. Mark's Campanile

St. Mark's Campanile is a bell tower in Venice, Italy, located near St. Mark's Square, right in front of St. Mark's Basilica, and is one of the landmarks of Venice. The campanile stands 98.6 meters tall and has a simple structure: the lower part is a massive brick cylindrical building, 12 meters wide on each side and 50 meters high; the upper part is an arched belfry housing five bells, above which sits a square section adorned with lions and the female symbol of Venice on its exterior walls.

At the very top of the tower is a pyramidal spire crowned with a golden weathervane in the shape of the Archangel Gabriel. The current design of St. Mark's Campanile was built in 1514, but the tower collapsed suddenly in 1902 and was subsequently reconstructed and completed in 1912.

The design of St. Mark's Campanile has been widely imitated around the world, including Seattle's King Street Station in the United States, Kiel City Hall in Germany, Brisbane City Hall in Australia, the Port Elizabeth Clock Tower in South Africa, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower in New York, the Daniels & Fisher Tower in Denver, the Sather Tower at the University of California, Berkeley, and the St. Benedict's Bell Tower in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. A replica of St. Mark's Campanile can also be found at The Venetian Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.

St Mark's Campanile

Must-visit reason: One of the world's most iconic bell towers

Continent: Europe

Country/Region: Italy

Province/State: Veneto Region

City: Venice