Venedig, Punta della Dogana, markanter Ankerplatz und Umschlagplatz von Waren, am Beginn zum Canal Grande. Um 1680 von Giuseppe Benoni, der Umbau von Tadao Ando 2008/09 in ein Museum moderner Kunst. Fortuna oben auf der Weltkugel, jedoch und vor allem auch die Tierskelette am Fries – Zeugen einer archaischen Bedeutung von Architektur, die im symbolischen Opfer liegt, im Kult und in der Verschwendung.
Now, first, to define this Lamp, or Spirit of Sacrifice, clearly. I have said that it prompts us to the offering of precious things merely because they are precious, not because they are useful or necessary. It is a spirit, for instance, which of two marbles, equally beautiful, applicable and durable, would choose the more costly because it was so, and of two kinds of decoration, equally effective, would choose the more elaborate because it was so, in order that it might in the same compass present more cost and more thought.
John Ruskin, The Seven Lamps of Architecture