The Scaligeri built their tombs in front of their church, the discreet Santa Maria Antica, and opposite their palace, the Palazzo del Podestà. These elegant Gothic funerary monuments protected by marble balustrading are decorated with religious scenes and surrounded by fine wrought-iron rails bearing the dynasty's emblem of a ladder (scala). Above the church door is the tomb of the popular Cangrande I, crowned by his equestrian statue (the original can be seen in the Museo di Castelvecchio).