Its wing extended to the Piazzetta. A wall and moat protected
it, the extent of its ramparts being practically identical with the
extent of the present building. This, the first, palace was erected in
the ninth century, after the seat of government was changed from
Malamocco to Venice proper.

[Illustration: THE PONTE OF PAGLIA AND THE BRIDGE OF SIGHS, WITH A
CORNER OF THE DOGES' PALACE AND THE PRISON]

Various conflagrations, in addition to the growing needs of the State,
led to rebuilding and enlargement. The first wing was added in the
twelfth century, when the basement and first floor of the portion from
the Porta della Carta to the thick seventh column from the Adam and Eve
group, under the medallion of Venice, on the Piazzetta facade, was set
up, but not in the style which we now know. That was copied three
centuries later from the Riva or lagoon facade. In 1301 the hall above
the original portion on the Rio del Palazzo side, now called the Sala
del Senato, was added and the lagoon wing was rebuilt, the lower arches,
which are there to-day, being then established. A few years later, a
still greater hall being needed, the present Sala del Maggior Consiglio
was erected, and this was ready for use in 1423. The lagoon facade as we
see it now, with its slender arches above the sturdy arches, thus dates
from the beginning of the fifteenth century, and this design gave the
key to the builders of later Venice, as a voyage of the Grand Canal will
prove.

It was the great Doge Tommaso Mocenigo (1413-1423) who urged upon the
Senate the necessity of completing the palace. In 1424 the work was
begun. Progress was slow and was hindered by the usual fire, but
gradually the splendid stone wall on the Rio del Palazzo side went up,
and the right end of the lagoon facade, and the Giants' Stairs, and the
Piazzetta facade, reproducing the lagoon facade. The elaborately
decorated facades of the courtyard came later, and by 1550 the palace
was finished. The irregularity of the windows on the lagoon facade is
explained by this piecemeal structure. The four plain windows and the
very graceful balcony belong to the Sala del Maggior Consiglio. The two
ornate windows on the right were added when the palace was brought into
line with this portion, and they are lower because the room they light
is on a level lower than the great Council Hall's. The two ugly little
square windows (Bonington in his picture in the Louvre makes them three)