Bucentaur
![The Doge on the Bucintoro near the Riva di Sant'Elena (c. 1766-70) by Francesco Guardi](/Images/godic/202501/02/Guardi,Francesco_-_The_Departure_of_Bucentaur_for_the_Lido_on_Ascension_Day1459.jpg")
![An anonymous miniature, Sbarco dal Bucintoro del doge Sebastiano Ziani al Convento della Carità (The Doge Sebastiano Ziani Disembarking from the Bucentaur for the Convent of Charity, 16th century)](/Images/godic/202501/02/Bucentaur-Anon-SbarcodalBucintoro-16C1459.jpg")
![The earliest known depiction of a bucentaur, from Jacopo de' Barbari's Pianta di Venezia (Map of Venice, 1500)](/Images/godic/202501/02/Bucentaur-JacopodeBarbari-PiantadiVenezia-1500-detail1459.jpg")
![Sebastian Vrancx's Trionfo sul Bucintoro in Bacino San Marco di Morosina Morosini Grimani (The Triumphal Entry of Morosina Morosini-Grimani on the Bucentaur into St. Mark's Basin, 17th century)](/Images/godic/202501/02/Bucentaur-SebastianVrancsx-TrionfosulBucintoro-17C1459.jpg")
The bucentaur (/bjuːˈsɛntɔːr/ bew-SEN-tor; bucintoro in Italian and Venetian) was the state barge of the doges of Venice. It was used every year on Ascension Day up to 1798 to take the doge out to the Adriatic Sea to perform the "Marriage of the Sea" – a ceremony that symbolically wedded Venice to the sea every year on the "Festa della Sensa" (Ascension Day).