#1 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Venice City Centre
Venice
~0.02 miles from Venice city center
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Venice is a city in northern Italy known both for tourism and for industry, and is the capital of the region Veneto, with a population of 271,367 (census estimate 1 January 2004). Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area (population 1,600,000). The name is derived from the ancient tribe of Veneti that inhabited the region in Roman times. The city historically was the capital of an independent city-state. Venice has been known as the "La Dominante", "Serenissima", "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Masks", "City of Bridges", "The Floating City", and "City of Canals". Luigi Barzini, writing in The New York Times, described it as "undoubtedly the most beautiful city built by man". Venice has also been described by the Times Online as bein...
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#2 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco)
Venice
~0.03 miles from Venice city center
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St Mark's Campanile (Campanile di San Marco in Italian) is the bell tower of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, Italy, located in the square (piazza) of the same name. It is one of the most recognizable symbols of the city.
The tower is a which 98.6 metres (323 ft) tall, and stands alone in a corner of St Mark's Square, near the front of the basilica. Not only does it has a simple form, the bulk of which is a plain brick square shaft, 12 metres (39 ft) wide on each side and 50 metres (160 ft) tall, above which is the arched belfry, housing five bells. The belfry is topped by a cube, alternate faces of which show walking lions and the female representation of Venice (la Giustizia: Justice). The tower has been capped by a pyramidal spire, at the top of which sits a golden weathervane in the form...
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#3 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Procuratie Vecchie
Venice
~0.03 miles from Venice city center
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The Procuratie (literally, "procuracies") are three connected buildings on St Mark's Square in Venice. They are also connected to St Mark's Clocktower. They are historic buildings over arcades, the last of them completed, to finish off the square, under Napoleon's occupation. The oldest of the buildings is the Procuratie Vecchie on the north side of the Square, built as a two-storey structure in the twelfth century, to house the offices and apartments of the procurators. They were rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century to a three-storey design by Codussi which still betrays something of its Gothic roots.
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#4 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Procuratie Nuove
Venice
~0.04 miles from Venice city center
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The Procuratie (literally, "procuracies") are three connected buildings on St Mark's Square in Venice. They are also connected to St Mark's Clocktower. They are historic buildings over arcades, the last of them completed, to finish off the square, under Napoleon's occupation. The oldest of the buildings is the Procuratie Vecchie on the north side of the Square, built as a two-storey structure in the twelfth century, to house the offices and apartments of the procurators. They were rebuilt after a fire in the sixteenth century to a three-storey design by Codussi which still betrays something of its Gothic roots. The Nuove building is on the left.
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#5 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale) Ducal Palace
Venice
~0.06 miles from Venice city center
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The Doge's Palace is a gothic palace in Venice. In Italian it is called the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice.
Its two most visible facades look towards the Venetian Lagoon and St Mark's Square, or rather the Piazzetta. The use of arcading in the lower stories produces an interesting "gravity-defying" effect. There is also effective use of colour contrasts.
The current palace was largely constructed from 1309 to 1424, designed perhaps by Filippo Calendario. It replaced earlier fortified buildings of which relatively little is known. Giovanni and Bartolomeo Bon created the Porta della Carta in 1442, a monumental late-gothic gate on the Piazzetta side of the palace. This gate leads to a central courtyard.
The palace was badly damaged by fire in ...
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#6 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
National Library of St Mark's (Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana)
Venice
~0.06 miles from Venice city center
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The Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana (English: National Library of St Mark's) is a library and Renaissance building in Venice, northern Italy; it is one of the earliest surviving public manuscript depositories in the country, holding one of the greatest classical texts collections in the world. The library is named after St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice. It is not to be confused with the State Archive of the Republic of Venice, which is housed in a different part of the city.
The library was provided with a building designed by Jacopo Sansovino. The first sixteen arcaded bays of his design were constructed during 1537 to 1553, with work on frescoes and other decorations continuing until 1560. Sansovino died in 1570, but in 1588, Vincenzo Scamozzi undertook the construction of the additio...
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#7 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Bridge of Sighs (Ponte dei Sospiri)
Venice
~0.07 miles from Venice city center
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The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is one of many bridges in Venice. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built in 1602.
The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was...
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#8 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
St. Mark's Square (Piazza San Marco)
Venice
~0.08 miles from Venice city center
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Piazza San Marco (often known in English as St Mark's Square), is the principal square of Venice, Italy.
A remark often attributed to Napoleon (but perhaps more correctly to Alfred de Musset) calls the Piazza San Marco "The drawing room of Europe". It is one of the few great urban spaces in a Europe where human voices prevail over the sounds of motorized traffic, which is confined to Venice's waterways. It is the only urban space called a piazza in Venice; the others, regardless of size, are called campi.
As the central landmark and gathering place for Venice, Piazza San Marco is extremely popular with tourists, photographers, and pigeons.
The Piazza originated in the 9th century as a small area in front of the original St Mark's Basilica. It was enlarged to its present size and shape i...
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#9 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
St. Mark's Clocktower (Torre dell'Orologio)
Venice
~0.08 miles from Venice city center
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St Mark's Clocktower is a clock tower situated on St Mark's Square in Venice, adjoining the Procuratie Vecchie. It houses the most important clock in the city, St Mark's Clock (alternatively known as the Torre dell'Orologio or the Moors' Clocktower).
It was constructed as a display of Venice's wealth, and as an aid to sailors on the Grand Canal about to depart on a voyage.
The building was designed by Mauro Codussi and constructed between 1496 and 1499. It has five bays, of which the central bay is the widest. This bay incorporates a two-storey gateway, with the large clock face above, topped by a single storey tower with a depiction of a Lion of St Mark against the night sky, while two blackened bronze figures intended as giants but known as the "Moors" stand on top and ring a bell on t...
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#10 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
St. Mark's Basilica (Basilica di San Marco)
Venice
~0.08 miles from Venice city center
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The Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark (officially known in Italian as the Basilica Cattedrale Patriachale di San Marco and commonly known as Saint Mark's Basilica) is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. It is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. It lies on Piazza San Marco (in the San Marco sestiere or district) adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace. Originally it was the "chapel" of the Venetian rulers, and not the city's cathedral. Since 1807 it has been the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. For its opulent design, gilded Byzantine mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power, from the 11th century on the...
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#11 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Correr Civic Museum (Museo Civico Correr)
Venice
~0.08 miles from Venice city center
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The Museo Correr is the civic museum of Venice, located in the prominent Piazza San Marco, facing the basilica of the same name, and partially occupies and is entered by way of the Napoleonic wing of the bureaucratic buildings, or Procuratie, framing three-quarters of the piazza.
The museum on the second floor flows into the Procuratie Nuova designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi. The Ala Napoleonica was built after the occupying French razed the small church of San Gimignano that faced the opulent Byzantine Basilica di San Marco.
The Museum holds art, documents, artifacts, and maps that chart the history and daily life of Venice across the century. The Napoleonic Wing has sumptuous Neoclassical decroration and houses a noteworthy collection of works by Antonio Canova.
The museum also has shown ...
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#12 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Galleria Stampalia
Venice
~0.18 miles from Venice city center
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The Pinacoteca Querini Stampalia is an art collection and museum in Venice, Italy. Situated in the sestieri of Castello, on the left bank of the Grand Canal, it includes famous paintings as a self- portrait and Adam and Eve by Palma the Younger, a Sacra Conversazione by Palma the Elder and a Madonna and Child by Bernardo Strozzi. It also holds prized drawings by Giovanni Bellini, Raphael, Paolo Veronese, Titian, and Tintoretto.
The picture gallery is displayed within twenty rooms on the second floor of the palace which also contains furniture, porcelains and musical instruments, along with works by artists ranging from the 14th-18th century.
This building has an interesting history. The Palazzo was renovated from its original state before the sixties. From 1961-1963, Carlo Scarpa restore...
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#13 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Le Zitelle (Santa Maria della Presentazione)
Venice
~0.19 miles from Venice city center
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#14 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (Palazzo Contarini Minello dal Bovolo)
Venice
~0.20 miles from Venice city center
Hotels Close to Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (Palazzo Contarini Minello dal Bovolo)
The Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo (also called Palazzo Contarini Minelli dal Bovolo) is a small palace in Venice, best known for the external spiral staircase, with a plethora of arches, known as the Scala Contarini del Bovolo (of the snail).
The palace dates from the 15th century. The staircase leads to an arcade, providing a charming upanoramic view over some of the roof-tops of the city. Currently, the stair is being restored and it is closed to the public.
The palace is located in a less-traveled side-street near the Campo Manin, near the Rialto.
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#15 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Goldoni's House (Casa Goldoni)
Venice
~0.24 miles from Venice city center
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Carlo Osvaldo Goldoni (25 February 1707 – 6 February 1793) was a celebrated Venetian playwright and librettist, whom critics today rank among the European theatre's greatest authors. His works, along with those of the modernist Luigi Pirandello, include some of Italy's most famous and best-loved plays. Audiences have admired the plays of Goldoni for their ingenious mix of wit and honesty. His plays offered his contemporaries images of themselves, often dramatizing the lives, values, and conflicts of the emerging middle classes. Though he wrote in French and Italian, his plays make rich use of the Venetian language, regional vernacular, and colloquialisms. Goldoni also wrote under the pen name and title "Polisseno Fegeio, Pastor Arcade," which he claimed in his memoirs the "Arcadians of Rom...
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#16 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
La Fenice Opera House Phoenix (Teatro La Fenice)
Venice
~0.24 miles from Venice city center
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Teatro La Fenice ("The Phoenix") is an opera house in Venice, Italy. It is one of the most famous theatres in Europe, the site of many famous operatic premieres. Its name reflects its role in permitting an opera company to "rise from the ashes" despite losing the use of two theatres (to fire and legal problems respectively). Since opening and being named La Fenice, it has twice burned and been rebuilt.
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#17 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Rialto Bridge (Ponte di Rialto)
Venice
~0.29 miles from Venice city center
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The Rialto Bridge (Italian: Ponte di Rialto) is one of the four bridges spanning the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is the oldest bridge across the canal.
The first dry crossing of the Grand Canal was a pontoon bridge built in 1181 by Nicolò Barattieri. It was called the Ponte della Moneta, presumably because of the mint that stood near its eastern entrance.
The development and importance of the Rialto market on the eastern bank increased traffic on the floating bridge. So it was replaced in 1255 by a wooden bridge. This structure had two inclined ramps meeting at a movable central section, that could be raised to allow the passage of tall ships. The connection with the market eventually led to a change of name for the bridge. During the first half of the 15th century two rows of s...
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#18 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo (San Zanipolo)
Venice
~0.36 miles from Venice city center
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The Basilica di San Giovanni e Paolo, known in the Venetian dialect as San Zanipolo, is a church in Venice, northern Italy. One of the largest churches in the city, it has the status of a minor basilica. A huge brick edifice built in the Italian Gothic style, it is the principal Dominican church of Venice, and as such was built for preaching to large congregations. It is dedicated to John and Paul, not the Biblical Apostles of the same names, but two obscure martyrs of the Early Christian church in Rome, whose names were recorded in the 3rd century but whose legend is of a later date.
In 1246, Doge Jacopo Tiepolo donated some swampland to the Dominicans after dreaming of a flock of white doves flying over it. The first church was demolished in 1333, when the current church was begun. It...
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#19 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Chiesa Santa Maria dei Miracoli
Venice
~0.36 miles from Venice city center
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#20 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Church of San Giorgio Maggiore
Venice
~0.38 miles from Venice city center
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San Giorgio Maggiore is a basilica in Venice, Italy designed by Andrea Palladio and located on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore. Facing the Bacino di San Marco, the church plays a central role in the panorama from the Piazzetta.
The first church dedicated to Saint George dates to the 8-9th century. In 982 the whole island was donated to a Benedictine monk, who founded the adjacent San Giorgio Monastery.
The present church was begun in 1566, and was not entirely finished before the death of Palladio in 1580. The façade was continued by Vincenzo Scamozzi based on the original architect's designs and completed in 1610. The church, sometimes designated as a basilica, is a prime example of Palladio's architectural style, and one of the finest churches he designed. The bell tower, first bu...
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#21 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Peggy Guggenheim Museum (Museo Guggenheim)
Venice
~0.45 miles from Venice city center
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The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a small museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. It is one of several museums of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation.
Entrance to Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.
Containing principally the personal art collection of Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979), a former wife of artist Max Ernst and a niece of mining magnate Solomon R. Guggenheim, this museum houses a somewhat smaller and more idiosyncratic collection than the other Guggenheim Foundation museums. However, the works on display include those of prominent American modernists and Italian futurists. Pieces in the collection embrace Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract expressionism. These include notable works by Picasso, Dalí, Magritte, Brancusi (including a sculpture from the Bird in ...
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#22 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Venice
~0.47 miles from Venice city center
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Palazzo Venier dei Leoni was probably begun in the 1750s by architect Lorenzo Boschetti, whose only other known building in Venice is the church of San Barnaba.
It is an unfinished palace. A model exists in the Museo Correr, Venice. Its magnificent classical façade would have matched that of Palazzo Corner, opposite, with the triple arch of the ground floor (which is the explanation of the ivy-covered pillars visible today) extended through both the piani nobili above. We do not know precisely why this Venier palace was left unfinished. Money may have run out, or some say that the powerful Corner family living opposite blocked the completion of a building that would have been grander than their own. Another explanation may rest with the unhappy fate of the next door Gothic palace which ...
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#23 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Barbarigo
Venice
~0.47 miles from Venice city center
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Palazzo Barbarigo is a palace in Venice, Italy, situated on the Grand Canal of the city. It was originally built in the 16th century. Today it is one of the more opulent palazzi on the canal, distinguished by its mosaics of Murano glass applied in 1886. At the time it was owned by the proprietors of one of the glass factories, who took their cue from the exterior mosaics on the facade of St Mark's Basilica.
The palazzo follows the Renaissance pattern of design on three floors: an open loggia gives access to the canal surmounted by a Piano nobile with open loggias and decorated columns, with a "secondo piano nobile" (secondary floor) above. The comparatively modern mosaics probably cover original windows, and obliviate the original design.
When the mosaics were executed, the then new owne...
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#24 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Barbaro (Ca'Barbaro)
Venice
~0.49 miles from Venice city center
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The Palazzi Barbaro — also known as Palazzo Barbaro, Ca' Barbaro, and Palazzo Barbaro-Curtis — are a pair of adjoining palaces, in the San Marco district of the city, formerly one of the homes of the patrician Barbaro family. The Palazzi are located on the Grand Canal of Venice, next to the Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti and not far from the Ponte dell'Accademia. The buildings are also known as the Palazzo Barbaro-Curtis. It is one of the least altered of the Gothic palaces of Venice.
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#25 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti
Venice
~0.49 miles from Venice city center
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Palazzo Cavalli-Franchetti is a palace in Venice, Italy, not far from the Ponte dell'Accademia and next to the Palazzo Barbaro on the Grand Canal of Venice.
It was erected in 1565. In the nineteenth century it was internally modernised and externally enriched in Venetian Gothic style, with rich window framing, by a series of grand owners. The first neo-Gothic improvements were made after 1840, when the young Archduke Frederick Ferdinand of Austria (1821-1847) reassembled the property, the Palazzo Cavalli-Gussoni, which had become divided among heirs, and embarked on a complex project intended to give a more prominent Habsburg presence along the Grand Canal, as Austria-Hungary had been awarded the territories of Venice after the Napoleonic Wars. At his premature death, unmarried, in 1847 t...
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#26 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Mocenigo Palace (Palazzo Mocenigo)
Venice
~0.50 miles from Venice city center
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#27 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Accademia Bridge (Ponte dell'Accademia)
Venice
~0.51 miles from Venice city center
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The Ponte dell Accademia or Accademia Bridge in Venice, Italy is one of the three bridges which span the Grand Canal. The Accademia Bridge is the most southern of the three and was named for the Accademia galleries on the South Bank of the Grand Canal in Venice.
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#28 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Campo San Polo
Venice
~0.52 miles from Venice city center
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The Campo San Polo is the largest campo in Venice, Italy, the second largest Venetian public square after the Piazza San Marco.
Originally dedicated to grazing and agriculture, in 1493 it was entirely paved, a well (one of the few fountains to be found in Venice) being placed in the middle. It was subsequently used as the scene of many a bullfight, mass sermons and masked balls. After the 17th century the poor's market was moved here from Piazza San Marco.
It remains to this day one of the most popular Carnival venues and is also used for open air concerts and screenings during the Venice Film Festival.
Lorenzino de' Medici was assassinated here in 1548.
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#29 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Church of San Polo (Chiesa di San Polo)
Venice
~0.52 miles from Venice city center
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#30 of 30 Things To Do in Venice
Palazzo Tiepolo
Venice
~0.52 miles from Venice city center
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On the façade of this palace from the early renaissance, remains of frescoes by Andrea Meldola are still to be found on the façade, but need conservation. The building is property of the Passi family.
Also the gothic palace on the left is a Palazzo Tiepolo. Its current use is unknown.
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