Venice - Basilica of St Mark

(Local Name: Basilica di San Marco) The Basilica of St Mark in Venice was the spiritual center of the Republic; a splendid building for the Patron Saint of the Republic, the church of the Doge and State.

Originally the palace chapel of the Doge, it became important in 829 when the remains of St Mark were transferred to Venice from Alexandria and interred in the Cappella di San Marco, which 150 years later in 976, was destroyed by fire but soon rebuilt. Its present ground-plan, which is derived from the Church of the Apostles at Constantinople, dates from 1063 and consists of a Greek cross, covered by five domes, with two side-aisles on the west arm pointing towards the Piazza di San Marco. In 1094 the basilica was consecrated in the presence of the Emperor Henry IV and was raised to the status of official state church. Three Procurators were appointed "Custodians of St Mark" to supervise the building and maintenance. In the following centuries they supervised structural alterations to the basilica and its decoration; the mosaics were done in the 12th and 13th centuries. The 13th century also saw the raising of the outer domes, the construction of the portico on the facade, the vaulting of the west porch, the installation of the bronze horses and the addition of the Byzantine parts of the Pala d'Oro. In the 14th century the upper part of the facade and the domes were decorated in Gothic fashion and the pulpits and the Baptistery constructed. Further embellishments followed in the 15th-16th century (altars, font, mosaics) and in the 17th-19th century (mosaics).

The whole of Venice was legally compelled to take part in the rich furnishing of the State church. In 1075 the Doge Domenico Selvo passed a law that obliged all returning ships to bring back something precious to decorate the "House of St Mark", which is why today the basilica boasts over 500 columns of rare marble, porphyry, alabaster and jasper brought back from the East and Asia minor.

The interior is clad with 4,240sq.m/45,622sq.ft of gold mosaics, mostly 12th/13th century. Between 1500 and 1750, however, some of the venerable old sections were replaced by "modern" mosaics designed by artists including Titian and Tintoretto.