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In
all probability the whole of this side of the (eastern) city wall was
rebuilt (around 1520): it shows evidences of great alterations at different
times. About the middle of the eastern wall occurs the
round tower of the Sea (or: Water) Gate. This round tower, in
which is the Water Gate
(next picture), has battlements with arrow-slits of an antique appearance.
It belongs to the style of construction of the second citadel built
by Nicolo Foscarini in 1482. Prioli was, however, an architect as well
as a military engineer, and evidently wished to give his constructions
that characteristic Italian elegance which renders such monuments interesting
to the artist as well as to the archeologist. Foscarini's work has a
less ambitious character, and the carved lions which decorate the citadel
are of particularly uncouth and inartistic species. A specimen of this
latter kind decorates the corner tower.
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