History Lesson - Across the Square to St Marco
By traveltripz on May 11, 2007 in Venice, Italy
Our hotel was very close to St Marks Square so it was just an easy stroll to take in the sight of this majestic Basilica.
The Basilica di San Marco (Saint Mark’s Basilica) church in Venice began in 829 (consecrated in 832) as an ecclesiastical structure to house and honor the remains of St. Mark that had been brought from Alexandria.
St. Mark became the patron saint of Venice, replacing St. Theodore. His attribute of a winged lion became the official symbol of the Venetian Republic.
San Marco Basilica was built beside the Palazzo Ducale or Doges’ Palace and served as the doge’s chapel. It did not become the cathedral church of Venice until 1807.
The first basilica was burned in 976 during a revolt against the doge Pietro Candiano IV but his successor, Doge Domenico Contarini (d. c. 1070) restored the basilica which was completed in 1071.
The plan is in the style of a Greek cross, and the building is surmounted by five domes. The design is one of the best know examples of Byzantine architecture. The light is directed to the centre of the Basilica leaving the sides in shadow.
Over the centuries, sculptures, mosaics, and ceremonial objects have increased the church’s richness. The four bronze horses on the west facade gallery were brought to Venice from Constantinople during the time of the Fourth Crusade (1204). There they had been part of a Greco-Roman triumphal quadriga (a sculpture of a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast). They were set up on the exterior of San Marco in the mid-13th century.
Napoleon took the statues to Paris but they were returned to Venice in 1815. where they remained in place until the 1990s when they were removed and put into an exhibition room, the horses that are now on the facade of the cathedral are bronze replicas.
The interior is decorated with many varieties of marble and mosaics on gilt and the floor is inlaid with marble and glass. There are marble statues separating the choir from the nave, these are masterpieces of Venetian Gothic sculpture by Jacobello and Pier Paolo dalle Masegne.
The church was an opulent display of Venetian wealth and was often referred to as the Chiesa d’Oro (”church of gold”).The Campanile, which is separated from the church, was originally begun under the doge Pietro Tribuno (d. 912). It was adapted into its present form early in the 16th century. In 1902 it collapsed and was rebuilt on the original site in 1912.
