La Porta della Carta Venice

The Porta Della Carta is the entrance into the inner courtyard of The Doge’s Palace on the western façade facing the Piazzetta. The name ‘Paper Gate’ refers perhaps to the fact that the city’s archives were stored there, or that the petitioners used to wait there in order to hand over their petitions and requests.
It was commissioned by the Doge Francesco Foscari in 1438. Father and son, Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon were the sculptors who carved the ornately Gothic portal, which was originally painted blue and gold. The door is surrounded by a framework of ornamentation and statues depicting the Four Virtues - Temperance, Charity, Prudence and Fortitude. Above the door Doge Francesco Foscari kneels before the Lion of St Mark. The sculpture on the left side of the arch was plundered from Constantinople during the 4th crusade. The four men carved out of the dark porphyry marble represent the four emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius I, and Galerius who ruled the Roman empire in the 3rd century.