The Crazy Engineering of Venice

Jareer Khan

Have you ever wondered how Venice, a city built on water, became one of the most powerful and wealthy cities in history?  In this video, we uncover the extraordinary story of Venice, from its humble beginnings as a refuge for Roman citizens fleeing the Huns, to its rise as a medieval engineering marvel. Discover how the Venetians transformed a muddy lagoon into a thriving metropolis with no roads, no land, and no fresh water. We'll explore the ingenious techniques they used to build stable foundations, construct iconic canals and bridges, and develop a unique system for fresh water and waste management.  Join me as we model Venice's complex infrastructure and reveal the secrets behind its lasting success. Be sure to stick around until the end of this video to learn more about our next giveaway.

Transcript

00:00The year is 452. The Roman Empire is on the brink of collapse, and the Huns have just

00:07launched their attack on Northern Italy. Several cities are completely destroyed, forcing the

00:12locals to go on the run. They head for a lagoon just off the coast, and take refuge on several

00:17small islands, a decision that would no doubt save their lives. Against all odds, this small

00:24civilization eventually went on to build one of the most impressive feats of engineering

00:29the world has ever seen, Venice. Despite having no roads, no land, and no fresh water, the

00:36Venetians managed to turn a muddy swamp into the most powerful and wealthiest city of its

00:43time. This unique layout of canals and bridges woven through hundreds of islands made Venice

00:49incredibly accessible, and it became the epicenter of all business. We modeled the entire thing

00:55to show you what's going on beneath the surface, and how its clever design and medieval

01:01engineering allowed it to take over the world. When the first refugees arrived to start their

01:06new lives on the islands, they had the worst possible surface to build on. The small, marshy

01:13islands were made of an incredibly soft clay, which would barely hold the weight of a human,

01:18let alone an entire city. To create stable foundations for buildings, the Venetians collected

01:24large timber piles from the forests of Croatia and started hammering them into the ground.

01:29They drove them about five meters deep until they reached a much harder layer of clay.

01:34Not only did this stabilize the piles, but by packing them really close together, it compressed

01:40the surrounding clay, pushing out the water and making it much stronger. Once the piles were

01:45firmly in the ground, the tops were cut off and wooden planks were laid on top to spread the load.

01:51Special blocks of Istrian stone were then placed to raise the foundations above the water.

01:57This design was a stroke of genius, as the wooden piles were sealed away from the air,

02:03making it impossible for them to rot. To this day, almost all of the original piles are in great

02:09condition and are still holding up the city. Once the foundation had been properly laid down,

02:15the buildings themselves were built. Venetians started off using wood for their houses,

02:20but after numerous fires, they switched to brick. To keep the buildings as lightweight as possible,

02:26they had to be no more than three stories high. Lime mortar had to be used instead of cement

02:32because it was flexible and would allow the entire building to flex as the ground beneath slowly

02:37moved. The inner walls were built in a crisscross pattern that would also flex like a trellis.

02:43The facade walls, which had large windows and elegant stone designs, made them much heavier,

02:49and so in order to stop them from falling over, they were pinned into the floor using iron rods,

02:54keeping the entire building together. This method of building worked well for the Venetians,

02:59and soon several islands around the lagoon were established in this way. Instead of expanding

03:05outwards like most cities, these islands expanded into each other. At first, boats were the only way

03:11to cross between the islands, but eventually the islands grew closer together, and many could be

03:17crossed by simply wading through the shallow water on a horse. The next step in Venice's

03:22evolution would of course be connecting the islands. Surprisingly, there were no bridges for

03:28the first 500 years of Venice's existence, but as the population increased and business started to

03:34ramp up, there needed to be an easier way to reach Rialto, the financial center of Venice, and so

03:40the Doge of Venice set up a prize for the engineer that could design the best bridge.

03:46He announced this by putting up Displate posters all around the city. Just kidding. Displate,

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04:46today and visit displate.com slash primalspace or use code primalspace. In order to turn Venice

04:53from a collection of islands into a bustling city, bridges had to be built. The first attempt was a

04:59simple pontoon bridge that joined the two largest sections of Venice together, and crucially,

05:05provided quick access to the Rialto area. The bridge was later upgraded to a wooden bridge,

05:10which eventually burned down and collapsed before it was finally replaced by a much stronger stone

05:16bridge. To build it, over 12,000 timber piles were driven into the banks of the canal, and 10,000

05:23tons of stone were built on top to form the bridge. To this day, the bridge still stands,

05:29and it serves as the main artery in the center of Venice. After this, stone bridges started to

05:35pop up everywhere, turning Venice into a compact city made up entirely of canals instead of roads.

05:42This gave Venice a unique advantage, since the canals allowed goods and traffic to flow quickly

05:47through every part of the city. The messy overlap of pedestrians and horse-drawn traffic

05:53didn't exist in Venice, since the walkways and canals were completely separated, yet people

05:58could transition between the two effortlessly without slowing down. By now, the city had become

06:04the most powerful and richest city in Europe. Everything being bought and sold went through

06:10Venice, and the Venetians were making enormous amounts of money. But as business increased,

06:16so did the population, and the demand for fresh water was out of control. Despite being surrounded

06:23by water, Venice couldn't use any of it, since it was extremely salty and undrinkable. Without

06:29natural springs or rivers to collect fresh water, Venice relied upon boats to deliver water from

06:35the mainland. But with 170,000 people, the demand became too much, and the Venetian engineers had to

06:43get creative. From the beginning, Venetian islands were built around squares, which were initially

06:49just empty fields for animals to graze upon. The idea was to use these squares to collect rainwater.

06:55They started by digging out large areas under the entire square and lining the walls with a thick

07:01layer of clay to make it waterproof. The space was then filled in with sand and stones, and the

07:06surface was redone with tiles that would lead the water towards each corner of the square. From here,

07:12rainwater would flow into the basin and gradually filter through the sand and stones until it

07:18reached the main well at the center of the square. To maximize the surface area for water collection,

07:24the roofs of the nearby buildings were fitted with gutters that would direct the water onto the

07:28square and into the drains. Venice then became an enormous funnel, which filled more than 600 wells

07:35around the city. The Venetians had once again engineered a masterpiece to save its city.

07:41But there was still one huge problem. Waste. Until this point, people threw all of their waste

07:48out of the window, some of it landing in the canal. But for those who didn't live within

07:53throwing distance of a canal, urine, feces, and rotten food all ended up in the streets. And so,

08:00in the 16th century, the Venetians started building a network of underground tunnels

08:04that would collect the waste from every building and flush it into the canal. When the tide of the

08:10lagoon was down, solid waste would collect at the bottom and the liquids would naturally flow into

08:15the canals. Then, when the tide rose, it would flood the tunnels and pull the solid waste into

08:21the canal. The motion of the tide coming in and out twice a day would exchange the dirty water

08:27for fresh water from the sea, flushing Venice from all of its waste. The extremely salty water

08:33worked as a strong disinfectant and, thanks to this system, the streets became clean.

08:38Amazingly, almost all of the incredible engineering that made Venice is still around today.

08:45The bridges, the canals, the buildings are all ancient relics sitting on a forest that has held

08:51up the entire city for over a thousand years. And now, time for the Primal Space giveaway.

08:58The winner of the previous giveaway is Leon. Congrats! In the next video, we'll be giving away

09:04this Primal Space-designed Venice poster. All you need to do is sign up at the link below,

09:10like the video, and leave a comment saying what you think about Venice.

09:14Thank you very much for watching and I'll see you in the next video.

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