The loggia of Sansovino is a small building, conceived as a triumphal arch, which is located at the base of the bell tower of San Marco in Venice .
The loggia was built and designed by Jacopo Sansovino , between 1537 and 1549 to replace an earlier building, probably of the fourteenth century . The prospect is characterized by three arches between the columns of which, in four niches are the statues in bronze of Minerva , Mercury , Apollo and Peace , by Sansovino. Above the arches there are three marble reliefs: the island of Candia , Venice as Justice and the island of Cyprus by employees. The decoration of the friezes and their arrangement alludes to the life of the city and its territories: Venus was born on the island of Cyprus, Jupiter and Minerva, protector of the island of Crete
From 1569 he became the guard of the dockyard at meetings of the Great Council .