The Old Courtyard

The construction of the Old Courtyard in the Bo Palace started in 1547 under the leadership of

Andrea Moroni, the architect from Bergamo, in the area where the Hospitium Bovis once stood.

Moroni’s design was inspired by the gymnasiums and the academies of the Greek world, and it

features a quadrangle surrounded by a double loggia, with Doric columns on the bottom and Ionic

columns above. In the architecture, several decorative elements carry symbolic meaning: the

architrave of the lower loggia alternates symbols of the arts and sciences with bucrania decorated

with festoons. At the center of each section is a tile depicting the Lion of Saint Mark, a symbol of

Padua’s affiliation with the territories of the Venetian Republic. In the upper level, the plinths of the

columns in the external façade portray divinity and the symbolic figures alluding to the liberal arts

and the university disciplines, while the internal side displays a grotesque motif. These works

culminated in the 1580s, with the last detail being the construction of the triumphal arch as the

entrance.