One of the most beautiful, as well as the most popular landmarks in Venice is Saint Mark’s Basilica.
The monument is an implementation of the spiritual, political, and social history of the Republic of Venice.
Saint Mark’s Basilica was built in 829 to preserve the remains of an evangelist Mark, who became a sole patron of the town. However, there was a fire in 927 that totally destroyed the church, and only between 1043 to 1072, the basilica was rebuilt.
Architectural Art of Saint Mark’s Basilica
The lower part of the church facade is composed of five arched passages with columns and is decorated with eastern column caps. Every semicircle of the arches is covered with magnificent mosaics, and between them, there are Byzantine bas-reliefs of the 12th century.
In front of the glazed central passage, there are four bronze horses made by a Greek sculptor Lysippos that are fixed on the terrace. The horses were brought from Constantinople in 1204, and they were covered with gold at that time.
The atrium is a stunning gallery decorated with a colorful mosaic and divided by arch passages with domes, where you can get from the central portal. There are marble columns at the walls, some of them are brought from Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem. Almost all mosaic pictures, adorned the arcs and the domes, are devoted to the scenes from the Books of the Old and New Testaments, and also tell the story about Noah’s Ark and the Flood.
According to the Eastern tradition, the choir gallery is separated from the church by the iconostasis that is decorated with polychromic marble. Eight columns sustain the architrave with statues of Apostles and the Virgin Mary.
Sacred Secrets of the Basilica
One of the chapels houses Nikopoia – a Byzantine icon of the 10th century that was brought to Venice after another crusade. The remains of Saint Mark are kept in the urn behind a grating on the main altar of the Basilica. There is also a genuine medieval masterwork of jewelry – the Pala d’Oro. This altar was ordered from the jeweler masters from Constantinople in 978, and in 1209, it was enriched with Byzantine enamel and gold.
This famous landmark of Italy almost all is made up of the great masterpieces of the famous artists. A baptismal font, that is located in the center of Baptistery, was performed by Francesco Segala, Tiziano Minio, and Desiderio da Firenze under the sketches of Jacopo Sansovino in the 15th century. Furthermore, Segala is a creator of the statue of John the Baptist as well.
If you are an art lover, we recommend you to visit the Museo Correr, where, among a large number of exhibit items, there is a Titian’s memorial headstone.
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