Doge's palace in Venice restored

VENICE, Italy -- Experts have restored part of Venice's Palazzo Ducale, cleaning marble facades and uncovering hidden shades of color and gold.

The gothic palace in St. Mark's Square housed the city's top official, the doge, when Venice was the capital of an independent and powerful republic.

The museum that now preserves the palace said Thursday that experts had restored the facades overlooking an internal courtyard and the adjoining Church of St. Nicholas.

During the work on what was the Doge's private church, water infiltration was repaired and cleaners brought to light traces of gold plating, colored marble and paint which originally decorated the whole palace.

The restoration began in 2007 and cost nearly $3.6 million.