originally one of supplication and placation, Ascension Day being chosen as that on which the doge set out on his expedition. The form it took was a solemn procession of boats, headed by the doge's nave (ship), from 1311 the Bucentaur, out to sea by the Lido port. Modern reconstruction In February 2008, plans to rebuild the bucentaur destroyed in 1798 were announced. More than 200 shipbuilders, woodcarvers and jewelers started work on 15 March, 2008 at the Arsenale. It has been reported by the Italian press that it will take two years for the bucentaur to be constructed. However, Colonel Giorgio Paterno, the head of Fondazione Bucintoro which is behind the €20 million project, said in March 2008 that "[w]e'll build it as fast as we can but we're not in a hurry." It is intended that the project will make use of traditional shipbuilding techniques and original materials, including larch and fir wood, and will reproduce gold decorations. The foundation is supported by businessmen in the Veneto and Lombardy regions but has also written to the French President Nicolas Sarkozy for France to make a financial contribution as a goodwill gesture to compensate for Napoleon's "vandalism" of the 1729 vessel. Fondazione Bucintoro hopes that the vessel will become "the most visited floating museum in the world", but also sees the project as a means to "help Venice recover its former glory and its old spirit". According to Paterno, "Invaded by so many million tourists, the city risks losing its identity, losing its cultural connection with its own history. It's not enough to live in the future, the city needs to connect with and remember its glorious past." See also History of the Republic of Venice Italy in the Middle Ages The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant'Elena, an oil on canvas by Francesco Guardi Notes References . . A translation of an extract from . Official website of the Fondazione Bucintoro. Retrieved on 29 February 2008. . Further reading Articles Franco, Giacomo (c. 1609), [Illustration from Habiti d'huomeni et donne venetiane [Dress of Venetian Men and Ladies]] in . . Books (Italian and French). (Italian). Lina Urban – Il Bucintoro – Centro Internazionale Grafica Veneziana, Venice 1988: (Italian) External links Homepage of the Fondazione Bucintoro Barges Republic of Venice Medieval ships Early Modern Italy Ships of the Venetian navy Ships built by the Venetian Arsenal