SECTION XIX. In saying that it is the same now in existence, I do not
mean that it has undergone no alterations; as we shall see hereafter, it
has been refitted again and again, and some portions of its walls
rebuilt; but in the place and form in which it first stood, it still
stands; and by a glance at the position which its windows occupy, as
shown in Figure II. above, the reader will see at once that whatever can
be known respecting the design of the Sea Facade, must be gleaned out of
the entries which refer to the building of this Great Council Chamber.
Cadorin quotes two of great importance, to which we shall return in due
time, made during the progress of the work in 1342 and 1344; then one of
1349, resolving that the works at the Ducal Palace, which had been
discontinued during the plague, should be resumed; and finally one in
1362, which speaks of the Great Council Chamber as having been neglected
and suffered to fall into "great desolation," and resolves that it shall
be forthwith completed. [Footnote: Cadorin, 185, 2. The decree of 1342
is falsely given as of 1345 by the Sivos Chronicle, and by Magno; while
Sanuto gives the decree to its right year, 1342, but speaks of the
Council Chamber as only begun in 1345.
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