This long, marble-paved colonnade forms one side of Piazza San Marco, stretching from the cathedral down to the embankment at the lagoon's edge. This shot was taken from inside the colonnade, looking across the square towards the Campanile, the cathedral's free-standing belltower.

(October 2000) It's still pretty early in the morning, so the people in the square below are outnumbered by the pigeons. The two columns at the lagoon-side entrance to the square are topped by statues depicting the winged Lion of St. Mark, its paws resting on a copy of the Gospel; and St. Theodore, conquering a large crocodile.

If you look carefully, you can see a raised wooden walkway being assembled along the left side of the square, in front of the colonnade, because of a high tide/storm surge warning. Piazza San Marco was expected to flood at high tide that afternoon, but luckily, it didn't.

This charming relief on one end of the colonnade is surrounded by intricately-sculpted acanthus leaves (which were an ancient Roman symbol of eternal life...anyone who's ever tried to rid themselves of acanthus bushes in their garden can attest that these plants are nearly impossible to uproot or kill).

This relief of Noah and two of his sons under a burgeoning grapevine can be found on the other side of the Doge's Palace from the colonnade. It forms the corner between the lagoon-facing facade and the wall of the building that runs along a narrow canal spanned by the Bridge of Sighs, which is actually a covered walkway leading from the city jail to the courtrooms in the Doge's Palace.

The Bible-inspired carving illustrates an episode in Noah's life after the Flood, as related in the Old Testament Book of Genesis.

From the King James Bible: {9:20}And Noah began [to be] an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: {9:21} And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. {9:22} And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. {9:23} And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid [it] upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces [were] backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness.

Now, we move along the length of the actual colonnade, with its beautiful medieval marble arches. Each of the column capitals is unique--some illustrate Biblical scenes or fairy tales, some depict trades, and some, like this column, refer to literary allusions of vices and virtues.

I'm not certain what the symbology of this carving of a knight, mounted on a goat or sheep, pursued by a scorpion, is supposed to represent. It may be a reference to a medieval folktale, or it may have astrological significance by depicting the symbols of Capricorn and Scorpio.

This capital depicts famous couples from history and literature. Facing the Piazza San Marco, the carvings are of demure-looking literary couples.

But if you walk around to the inside of the colonnade, and look up, you'll see a bolder pair of lovers, all snuggled up in bed amongst the carved acanthus leaves!

This column features various professions--in the center of the photo, we see a professor (with a really cool hat) lecturing from a book and surrounded by adoring students.

To the professor's right, you can see the prow of a fisherman's boat.

This is another column featuring various professions. To the right, we see a couple of shoemakers cutting leather and putting the finishing touches on a pair of slippers hung on a rack. On the left, a female vendor offers apples from a wicker basket.

And now, my favorite on the column featuring various professions--a writer, and a pretty productive one, if the roll of parchment spilling over the side of his desk is any indication!

One of the interesting features of the Basilica San Marco is the collection of looted reliefs, carved columns, and statues embedded in the exterior walls on the side of the cathedral facing the Doge's Palaces. Given the cutthroat mercantile policies of the Venetians, I rather think the display of booty helped discourage emissaries of other cities, who had to pass right by this Wall of Stolen Stuff on their way into the Doge's Palace.

I believe this beautiful panel of griffins guarding a potted grapevine was among the many items looted from Constantinople in 1204. Nearby, there are also marble panels depicting semi-abstract floral motives and peacocks.

Another bit of booty from the sacking of Constantinople: a red poryphry statue depicting the four rulers (or Tetrarchs) of the late third-century Roman Empire.

The four men (the Augustae, or emperors of the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire, plus their Caesares, or assistant emperors) are dressed as aristocratic warriors and wearing swords with pommels carved into Imperial eagles, form one corner of the Basilica San Marco.

You can also see some looted marble panels embedded in the cathedral wall to the right of the statue, as well as the carved marble pediment of a Byzantine building to the left..

The Basilica San Marco is an interesting blend of architectural styles, in addition to the aforementioned looted panels, statues, and columns embedded in its walls. From the front, the cathedral is very Byzantine-looking, with domes and lots of gilded mosaic work.

But if you walk around the cathedral, to the left, you see that the western wall is done in high Gothic, the stonework carved like lace around the characteristic quatrefoil windows. This doorway is surmounted by a statue of Venice's hallmark Winged Lion of St. Mark facing a kneeling Doge, and an amazing medieval window.

In contrast to the very busy high Gothic western wall of the cathedral, the front of the cathedral features multiple doorways done in a Romanesque/Byzantine style--short columns, rounded arches, very simple carvings, and lots of mosaic work.

You can see the edge of another looted marble column, intricately carved, on the right side of the photo.

This medieval dormitory for the poor served as the model for the Ypres House of the Rose. It's actually the Municipal Museum nowadays, which gave me the opportunity to go inside this centuries-old building.

The construction on this building began around 1200, and continued for over a century, finally completing in 1304. It's huge, with chambers and halls large enough to hold fairs during inclement weather--a testament to the importance of the wool-cloth trade to medieval Ypres. Like many northern European municipal buildings, the ground floor offers a large covered area for merchants to set up booths. Even today, you'll find fruit and vegetable booths here on market days.

Like many other medieval cathedrals, construction work on this building proceeded over decades. During the time that Glass Souls takes place, this building is being used for services, but it's still under construction. It's also not yet the bishop's seat in 1260, and therefore we refer to it as St. Martin's Church in the novel, rather than cathedral.

This three-story building with a gorgeous carved stone facade is said to have belonged to the Knights Templar, though the actual historical evidence for this is a bit shaky. Like many of the other medieval houses and buildings in Ypres, it is a replica of the original medieval building destroyed during WWI.

The ground floor of this house dates from 1275, and the second story from the mid-1500s. It's a Youth Association Hall these days.

One of the fortified city gates to Ypres, with a stone walkway over the Ieperlee, a man-made resevoir that wasn't yet in existence in the thirteenth century.

A haunting carved capital on one of the many columns of the colonnade that lines the Piazza San Marco side of the Doge's Palace. At one point, I considered using this photo as the cover for Glass Souls--something about the woman's expression reminds me of Cecilia, and there are three handsome men flanking her--Michel, Roland, and Dominic, perhaps?

The interior courtyard of the Hospital of the Knights.

In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, these rooms served as hostel accommodations for pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, as well as hospice care for the ill or injured. Nowadays, they house the collection of the archaeological museum, the small, thick-walled chambers holding display cases of black-and-red pottery from the classical period, broken sculptures and carved grave stelae from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, as well as a collection of votive offerings-- jewelry, statuettes, gold and silver objects--found in the ruins of the temples at the archaeological excavations of nearby Kamiros.

The Great Hall in the Hospital of the Knights.

This great hall, located on the second story of the Hospital of the Knights, runs the length of the hospital's facade

It was once the place where knights and pilgrims took communal meals and celebrated religious services; today, it serves to display the badly battered sarcophagi of the knights.