How Venice Was Built On a Swamp

Building a city on a lagoon has its challenges. Here's how the citizens of Venice accomplished this task centuries ago.

#buildingvenice #VeniceFlooding #VeniceItaly #savingvenice

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Production Credits
Digital Video Producer: Emily Zendt
© WGBH Educational Foundation 2022

[tothelighthouse]

Another important factor:
Because the Venice lagoon was salt water, with a great deal of silt, it contained very little oxygen. Thus the wood poles, rather than rotting in the water, became petrified & rock-like.

[trevorgoodchild]

okay now with this secret i can go high seas and build my own country!

[jacobpugpoirier]

This was one of the first question before I went to bed. So I had to search it up

[nemod]

Very informative. Could be a bit longer, and more into details.

[kellydalstok]

Amsterdam was also built on wooden poles.

[PiotrBajbak]

If you stress many poles together they get the job done. I can confirm that since I am from Poland 😅

[TheCommunicationCoach]

I always wondered how Venice 'floated, ' and while this is incredible, it does not bode well for their future in our rising sea levels. Using the sea as a sewer is not workable for much longer, either, as well as being disgusting. All those people in the canals and gondolas floating through sewage water. Gross.

[rizalanshari]

You should see how borneo people build cities on a swamp

[hetedeleambacht]

how cool is that, i guess amsterdam was built the same way

[dobees]

Visit in Venice. It's not all that
1. It's sinking, it won't last another 100 years.
2. It stinks. Algae and mosquito infested canals are everywhere. Stagnant water in many places.
3. Its expensive. $30 for a cup of coffee in St. Marks.
4. It's crowded. About a million tourists per day, pickpocketing everywhere, expensive souvenirs.

[vanremsangaralte]

They are using pine wood which last forever

[dentindahousee]

There has to be more to it than that! Wood doesn’t last that long underwater for this many years… Or wet mud.

[gremlin]

Wouldn't the wood poles decompose over time? Wouldn't the city sink?? 😱

[ronkirk]

Subsidence due to groundwater pumping, lack of new silt replenishment, sea level rise due to global warming. Venice is being hit from all sides.

[GaisSacredCreations]

Much better way of building that has lasted for centuries than building a home on a sandy bluff facing the ocean...

[AnnoraEksteen]

maar word die houtpale toe nie vrot daar onder in dei modder nie ?

[ezeee]

Only Italians are capable of building such an architectural masterpiece in the middle of a swamp. No other nation will ever measure up to them.

[donweaver]

How did they bash logs into the ground

[autentico]

all countries have been using this form of construction for 4, 000 years

[KanaidBlack]

Kinda remind me of mexican chinampas, just a little