July 14, 1902: St. Mark's Campanile Collapses In Venice

The restored Campanile

July 14, 1902: St. Mark's Campanile, the bell tower of St. Mark's Basilica, overlooking St. Mark's Square and the mouth of the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, collapses after centuries of ill care, despite an ongoing attempt to restore it.

The original Campanile was completed in 1513, at the height of the Italian Renaissance, when Venice was one of the greatest cities in the world, and one of the most productive, in both economy and art. Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarotti and Raffaello Sanzio (known to the modern world as Raphael) were all active at the time, and had worked in Venice.

To put this in perspective: Henry VIII was the King of England, 22 years old, handsome and athletic, and happily married to his 1st wife, Catherine of Aragon; his troops, later in the year, would kill King James IV of Scotland at the Battle of Flodden Field, and defeat those of King Louis XII of France in the Battle of the Spurs; the Spanish Inquisition was at its height, and, by this point, everybody expected it; Juan Ponce de León became the 1st European to sight Florida, but the Americas were completely unsettled by Europeans; Christopher Columbus, on whose 2nd voyage to the Americas, in 1493, Ponce de León had served, had been dead for only 7 years; and William Shakespeare and Galileo Galilei wouldn't be born for another half a century.

The Campanile was initially intended as a watchtower, to sight approaching ships and protect the entry to the city. It also served as a landmark to guide Venetian ships safely into harbor. The spire was gilded, making the tower visible to distant ships in the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the bells served to regulate the civic and religious life of Venice, marking the beginning, pauses, and end of the work day; the convocation of government assemblies; and public executions.

The campanile stood alone in the square, near the front of St Mark's Basilica. It had a simple form, recalling its early defensive function, the bulk of which was a square brick shaft with lesens, 39 feet wide on each side and 160 feet tall. The belfry was topped by an attic with effigies of the Lion of St. Mark and allegorical figures of Venice as Justice. The tower was capped by a pyramidal spire at the top, of which there was a golden weather vane in the form of the Archangel Gabriel.

When the original tower collapsed, the Basilica was not damaged, and the only fatality was the caretaker's cat. There were some people who thought that it wasn't worth rebuilding it, but it was. With the original plans intact, the replica could be exact.

The ruins after the collapse

The tower itself was completed on October 3, 1908. The following year, work began on the belfry, and the year after on the attic. The allegorical figures of Venice as Justice on the eastern and western sides were reassembled from the fragments that had been recovered from the ruins, and were restored.

The twin effigies of the winged lion of Saint Mark located on the remaining sides of the attic had already been chiseled away, and irreparably damaged after the fall of the Venetian Republic, at the time of the first French occupation, from May 1797 to January 1798. They were completely remade.

Work began on the spire in 1911, and lasted until March 5, 1912 when the restored statue of Gabriel was hoisted to the summit. The new campanile was inaugurated on April 25, 1912, on the occasion of St. Mark's feast day, exactly 1,000 years after the foundations of the original building had allegedly been laid.

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July 14, 1902 was a Monday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Giants lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 6-0 at League Park in Cincinnati. Clarence Currie pitched a 6-hit shutout.

* The Chicago Orphans beat the Brooklyn Superbas, 2-0 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Jack Taylor pitched a 2-hit shutout.

For 22 seasons, Adrian Anson was the 1st baseman for the team originally known as the Chicago White Stockings. He became their Captain and manager, and was nicknamed Cap. As he got older, he was nicknamed Pop. The team was renamed the Chicago Colts in 1890, because they were so young. Anson retired after the 1897 season, and the team was renamed the Orphans, because "they missed their Pop." In 1903, they again embraced youth, and became the Chicago Cubs.

As for the Brooklyn team, they had previously been managed by Ned Hanlon, and there was a famous circus troupe of the era, named Hanlon's Superbas. In 1911, they took the name Brooklyn Dodgers, as Brooklyn had many trolley lines, and natives had to "dodge" the trolleys.

* The Philadelphia Athletics beat the Boston Americans, 4-3 in 10 innings at Columbia Park in Philadelphia. Howard Wilson outpitched Cy Young, with both men going the distance. The Americans became the Boston Red Sox in 1908.

* The Washington Senators beat the Baltimore Orioles, 10-9 at American League Park in Washington. The Orioles had already been bought and stripped of their best players, and the franchise was returned to the American League at the end of the season. A new franchise was granted to New York for 1903, and it would eventually become the Yankees. But they and the 1901-02 Orioles were not the same team.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Boston Beaneaters, 4-1 at Exposition Park in Pittsburgh. Honus Wagner went 3-for-4 with 2 RBIs. The Beaneaters became the Braves in 1912.

* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 9-2 at Robison Field in St. Louis.

* And the Chicago White Sox, the Cleveland Bronchos, the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Browns were not scheduled. The Cleveland team became the Naps in 1903, the Indians in 1915, and the Guardians in 2022.