Deel van een bronzen deur van de San Marco in Venetië before 1885

Carl Heinrich Jacobi captured this section of a bronze door from San Marco in Venice with photography. Though we don't have a date for this image, Jacobi lived through a time of immense change in Europe, notably the rise of nation-states and the unifications of both Italy and Germany, accompanied by great shifts in social structures and cultural identities. The doors of San Marco are themselves palimpsests of history, laden with the complex narratives of Venice's mercantile empire. Originally cast for a Byzantine church in Constantinople, the doors testify to Venice's appropriation of Byzantine artistic and cultural heritage after the sack of Constantinople in 1204. In its latticed design, the door offers a glimpse into the ways in which Venice saw itself as a gateway between East and West. Jacobi's photographic work invites us to consider how Venice's complex past continues to shape our present.