The Punta della Dogana or Punta della Salute or Punta da Màr is an
area of Venice, a thin triangular point dividing the Grand Canal and the
Giudecca Canal, overlooking the San Marco Basin.
The area, part
of the Dorsoduro district, hosts three important architectural complexes
(Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute, the palace of the patriarchal
seminary and the Dogana da Mar complex (historic but currently
non-operational headquarters of the Customs and Monopolies Agency), from
which the area takes its name) and the main tide survey station of the
Venice lagoon, from which the term "Zero Mareografico Punta Salute" -
ZMPS derives.
Basilica of Santa Maria della Salute
Santa Maria della Salute
(also known as Chiesa della Salute or simply La Salute) is a votive
basilica in the Venetian Baroque style, designed by Baldassare Longhena.
As was the case for the churches of the Redentore and San Rocco, the
basilica was built as a sign of thanksgiving to the Madonna by the
Venetians for deliverance from the plague which decimated the population
between 1630 and 1631. It is characterized by the internal octagonal
plan and the large dome which dominates the final stretch of the Grand
Canal and faces towards San Marco.
Customs from Mar
The
seventeenth-century building, the work of the architect and engineer
Giuseppe Benoni, has a triangular plan, consisting of 8 bays developed
on two floors and is crowned by a tower dominated by the golden ball, a
gilded bronze sphere supported by two atlantes, to represent the world
on which the statue called "Occasio" rests. This statue, the work of the
sculptor Bernardo Falconi, represents Fortuna, the work of the sculptor
Bernardo Falconi, rotating to indicate the direction of the wind and,
symbolically, the mutability of fortune itself.
At the time of
the Venetian Republic the complex, due to its central position between
the Basin of San Marco and the entrance to the Grand Canal and the
Giudecca Canal, was used as a customs office for goods and goods subject
to naval trade.
Important restoration works, from January 2008 to
March 2009, allowed the creation within the Dogana da Mar complex of a
contemporary art center connected to Palazzo Grassi, conceived by the
minimalist Japanese architect Tadao Andō, assisted by a group of Italian
professionals, commissioned by the French fashion magnate François
Pinault, owner of Palazzo Grassi and collector of contemporary art. The
building underwent a static consolidation and, among other things, the
necessary works were carried out to protect it from high tides and make
it usable by people with reduced mobility; adequate mechanical and
electrical systems have been installed for the conservation and
protection of the works of art on display.
The exterior has been
restored without additions and is the only part of the original
structure that has remained intact. Cosmetic blemishes and grouts were
repaired and damaged areas were reinforced with stainless steel anchors
but were left exposed with visible brickwork. The interiors were left
bare with no surface treatment, bricks replaced sparingly. The partition
walls of the last two centuries have been replaced by parallel and
rectangular rooms. The roof was replaced by a similar roof with wooden
gables, with skylights added. The new floors are made of exposed and
polished concrete, in some places of linoleum. This combination
“symbolizes the union of past, present and future”.
The
"signature" of the Japanese architect is represented by some exposed
concrete walls, typical of his work, which have served in part to
disguise the technological equipment necessary for a modern exhibition
centre, and in part to create, right in the center of the building, a
large square room.
In principle, the project also envisaged the
construction, in Campo della Salute, of a pair of concrete columns with
a square section; the proposal, after much controversy, was abandoned
due to the numerous lines of public underground services present in that
area.
The station for tidal observations known as "Punta della Salute" was
established in 1923 (scientific surveys of the tide level in Venice had
instead begun in 1872, when the first tide gauge was installed near
Palazzo Loredan), it is part of the tide gauge network of the Venice
lagoon (RMLV), and is commonly taken as a reference for the tide levels
in the lagoon area, both in relation to measurements and forecasts; it
is made up of two different control units, one located on the Grand
Canal side, and the other on the Giudecca Canal side. An important
feature of these surveys is that the tidal zero to which they refer
differs from that normally used to measure sea level (which for Venice
is measured outside the port inlets of the lagoon), using the same
physical reference as a benchmark from the end of the 800, although in
the meantime the ground on which Venice rests has subsided; in fact,
these measurements are indicated with reference to "ZMPS" (Zero
Mareografo Punta della salute) or to the "1897 State Altimetric
Network".
Conventionally, the tidal zero of Punta della Salute
corresponds to -23.56 cm above sea level (difference noted in 1968),
although in recent decades there has been a further increase in the mean
sea level in Venice, eustatism due in part to climate change (which due
to the compliance of the upper Adriatic has a significant impact on the
high waters of Venice ), and in part to the increase in the subsidence
of the lagoon area (already in 1994 a study revealed that the difference
between the tidal point zero of Punta della Salute and the zero of the
national tide gauge of the Hydrographic Institute of the Marina of
Genoa).