时钟塔

时钟塔的位置也在景点云集的圣马可广场这边，比较靠近圣马可教堂。建筑本身很漂亮，也是充满文艺复兴时期那种繁复而又多彩的艺术风格。顶上有一个很漂亮的钟，时钟塔因此得名，而顶上的青铜撞钟更是它的标志。

虽说是塔，其实不是独立的塔，而是面向圣马克广场的建筑的突出部分。有带羽翼的狮子的装饰，最上面有钟和两座双手握着锤头的摩尔人的塑像，到了整点可以看到摩尔人撞钟的情景。从圣马克教堂阳台上看的话，更是清楚。

在圣马可教堂的旁边，白色的建筑是老的钟楼。最上面是青铜的两个小人敲钟。下方的威尼斯象征狮子兽形态栩栩如生。圆形的带有十二星座的表异常美丽。

Great way to see Venice from the birds eye view. The ticket charge is €8 per person and you can stay as long as you like. Great pictures of the Piazza, Basilica and Palazzo Ducale and the whole town of Venice.

Lots of people look at the clock tower but few realize that one can take a guided tour of its inner workings. Twelve-person guided tours are available in English and Italian on selected days and have to be booked beforehand (either on line or at the Correr Museum ticket desk). We visited in January and got tickets for the same day, but in high season probably best to book in advance via the web. We had a lovely guide who explained the workings of the great clock and associated mechanisms. All quite simple and elegant. The tour is 'capped off' with an visit to the top of the tower for spectacular views of the city.

This one was a bit of a find. After passing by the tower probably a dozen times, reading about it in numerous books, and overhearing a tour guide discuss it’s virtues I decided to search out a visit on my own. I’m not sure how this works in the high season, but in January you can purchase tickets fifteen minutes before a 2:00PM departure at the Museo Correr front desk for 7 Euros. Our group of five was led to the small doorway at the base of the tower and ushered in by a doorman.Somewhat logically, the tour starts at the bottom of the tower and ascends level-by-level. Our first break was on the ground floor where we get a general overview of the building's history and the tour itself. The first floor (second stop) shows the astrological clock, which I believe is no longer functioning. Here we can see the moving, breathing chronological innards of the digital clock above. The second floor contained a rather impressive behind-the-scenes view of the digital clock which somewhat unsurprisingly dovetails nicely with the previous stop as we get to see the effect of the cause as it may be. The penultimate break was at the level of the lion where we hear about the story of the intermittently visible magi, and finally we ended at the top by the bell-ringing Moors although they were not in action during our ten minutes at the top. The descent was obviously much faster, taking up just a few minutes of the approximate hour on site.This was a just a plain cool experience. Our guide was gracious, knowledgeable, and spoke very good English. The tour itself covered history, engineering, astrology, and had some physical activity to boot. This reminded me of visiting the crown of The Statue of Liberty in the sense that I will never view the structure the same again from the outside once you’ve been in. Furthermore, the customer service was excellent! Our docent and the tower attendant watched out for our safety at all times, answered questions, and personally saw us back to St. Mark’s Square at departure. A highly recommended visit and worth any extra time and effort to make a reservation in advance.

After a marvelous walk through Venice from Piazzale Rome, we finally arrived at Piazza San Marco. Off course we were overwhelmed by the beauty of the Basilica, the Campanile and the unique square itself. But when we walked trough Merceria Orologio, the last street before entering St. Mark's Square, I noticed we walked underneath a magnificent clock tower. I checked my Venice travel guide and it turned out to be the famous Clock Tower of St. Mark's square. Her real name is Torre dell'Orologio and was built between 1496 and 1499 by Mauro Codussi. It replaced the old clock of St. Alipio at the north-west corner of Piazza San Marco. The clock itself was made by Gian Paolo Ranieri and his son Gian Carlo. Both wings were added to the tower in 1506.I looked up and above the gate a I saw a round white marble clock with the 24 hours of the day. An image of a gold sun points the hour of the day. Inside the marble circle there is a circle with gold signs of the zodiac. The pointer shows the position of the sun in the zodiac. The blue inner circle shows the earth in the center and the moon on a separate circle that turns so that it shows its postion to the earth. The gold stars are in a fixed position. One level higher I saw a statue of the Virgin and Child. On the left of this statue there is a large blue panel showing the hour of the day in Roman numbers. On the right panel you see the minutes in Arabic numbers. On the highest level there is a winged lion of Venice with an open book before a blue background with gold stars. In my guide I read that there used to be a statue of the Dodge kneeling before the lion, but this has been removed by Napoleon.On top of the tower there is a large bell, with on each side two large bronze figures called the Moors. They are shepherds wearing sheepskin. One is old and the other is young, representing the passing of time. The are both holding a large hammer and every hour they sound the original bell from 1497. Interesting to know is that twice a year, on Epiphany (6 January) and on Ascension Day, 4 figures come up on the semi-circular gallery in front of the statue of the Virgin and Child. The first figure is an angel with a trompet, followed by the three Magi. They pass in procession on the gallery, bowing to the Virgin and Child and go back in the tower again. As you can read from the other reviews, you can book a tour to see the Tower and the Clock inside. We will do that the next time we visit St. Marks Square. For now, we admired the beautiful outside of this magnificent Clock Tower.

We were lucky enough to take a tour of the clock with a wonderful guide Eleanor. The tour needs to be booked prior to your arrival in Venice as there are limited numbers of 12 people per tour and they are taken in different languages. You meet at the Correr Museum book shop on the 1st floor and will need ti bring photographic id. The tour lasts an hour and is very informative if the history of the clock and you have plenty if time for photos. Would recommend this tour.

This clock tower situated in the Piazza San Marco is seen by numerous tourists as they pass by and marvel and its architectural spendour for a moment before continuing on and visiting the major sights such as Florians, Palazzo Ducale and the Campanile Di San Marco.My wife and I spent three days in Venice and although a small island the old addage comes into mind 'so much to do so little time', we spent so much time taking in the major tourist attractions we missed the relevance of the minor ones.Unfortunatly my wife and I did not take the tour available, due to being unaware of it's relevance, and therefor can only comment on it's exterior splendour. As with many other attractions in Venice the clock tower is steeped in history and can only be appreciated by either taking a tour, researching before you go, or reading up on Trip Advisor otherwise you just simply have to take in the beauty of the building as with the countless other architectural sights that make up this magnificent city.James Bond apparantly threw the Villain Chang through this clockface window crashing to his death below before uttering the most famous miss-quote in history 'Play it again Sam!',the Venini Glass shop which also features in the film can be found to the right of the tower.As a big Bond fan I was gutted to find out 2 months after visiting Venice I had missed the relevance of this clock tower and as it happens countless other movie locations, I just wished I had undertaken a little more research before arriving. Hopefully if I ever return to Venice, and certainly hope I will, then this attraction will certainly be on my 'to do' list!.

The clock tower, an essential feature of Piazza San Marco, is seen by all tourists from the outside. Yet, there are two guided tours in English every day, each limited to 12 people, that allow one to see the clock from the inside and enjoy the views from the roof and balconies. We signed up for one of these tour (pre-booked online), and are very happy that we did so. The tour meets at the book shop of the Correr Museum, and then makes its way to the clock tower. The excellent guide provided good explanations and some historical background. Seeing the inner workings of the clock mechanism was interesting, but the views from the top, just underneath the bell, were absolutely breathtaking. Please note that the ticket to the clock tower tour also includes same-day admission to the Correr Museum.

The Torre dell'Orologico is a beautiful clock tower done up in gold and brilliant blue. look for the knights who come out on the hour and strike the bell. Piazza San Marco can be mesmerizing as there is so much eye candy all around you. tough as it may be, this is one architectural element is one you may want to savor. so spend a few minutes and admire the clock surrounded by the signs of the zodiac as well as the golden emblem of the lion up top.

Don’t miss this when visiting St Marks Square. It is very easy to focus on the big-ticket items and overlook the lower hyped attractions such as this. As with all attractions I think a little research (if you are not going to do a tour) pays dividends, and this is certainly true in this case so you can truly appreciate this marvel. Indeed, Venetian legend has it that when the clock was revealed in 1499 the Doge had the clockmaker blinded so that he could not create another. The clock is an extremely elaborate timepiece and displays the time of day, the dominant sign of Zodiac and the current phase of the moon. Be sure to watch the time change (is this the first digital clock) and the ringing of the hour (the clock tower is topped by two bronze figures that strike the bell hourly).

I am always interested in doing something a little bit different when visiting somewhere new. This tour ticked that box for me. The guide was fantastic and passionate about her city and the history of the clock tower. We got to climb right to the clock and take some beautiful photos of the square.

What an experience! It's one thing to see the clock tower but it's a whole other world to actually be at the top of the clocktower.Be sure to make reservations online ahead of time, so you can definitely get the time slot you want for the tour. I'm not sure if you can buy tickets (12.50 Euros each) on the spot since the tour group is very small. And by small, I mean it was almost like a secret society. I have a feeling not a lot of people know about this tour. I only found out about it while researching online. There's an old door on the side street around the corner from San Marco Piazza. You wait there, someone opens the door and lets you in, and then closes the door again behind you.No bags (not even small cross body bags) are allowed during the tour. But they lock it up for you (for free) and your belongings are totally safe - for the duration of the tour, nobody enters or leaves the tower. Sounds a little creepy, but doesn't it seem kind of cool at the same time?Our tour guide, Joanna was very informative and enthusiastic. It was as if she was giving this tour for the very first time (props to her because I definitely would not have the energy to be a tour guide and to be as excited as she was). She told us a lot about the history of the tower and how it's used today.If I remember correctly, the tour lasted about 45 minutes to an hour.More than just a clock!Also while you're up there, you get a great view of the piazza.

We booked for a late afternoon english tour. We were the only people on the tour and our guide brought the place to life just for us. She took us through the building and told us stories about the clock and the building with enough technical information without boring us. Full of more details if we asked her to elaborate. As we reached the top, the clock chimed and the sun began to sink. It was a beautiful way of seeing St Marks. Well worth it, and worth booking first. Your ticket will get you into other museums too. Bargain.