St. Marks Basilica

  After we journeyed our way down the Campanile, we made our way across the square to the equally famous St. Mark’s Basilica.  The Basilica, over the last thousand years, has become one of the most religious sites in the world and has also become the sedimentary rock of Venetian society, with layer upon layer of treasure added to the building until it reached its present state.

When Venetian merchants plundered the “relics” of Saint Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria, Egypt, in 828, it was decided that a great building was to be erected to house the new treasure. St. Mark’s Basilica was modeled after Constantine the Great’s Church of the Holy Apostles. During a rebellion in 976 against Doge Pietro Candiano IV, the Doge and his family were burned inside the church, though it would be re-built two years later. Through constant additions to the structure, it would take almost a hundred years for the building to reach its current state. In the last thousand years, however, little has changed in regards to the structure itself. One constant with St. Mark’s Basilica has been change, however, in that the decoration has constantly been added to as merchants would bring back treasures and add them to the building.

The entire building started, as all Venetian buildings, as a brick building but this constant addition of mosaics and carvings by the merchants has covered a great majority of the buildings. Some of the additions, like the horses and the Tetrarchs, are older than the building itself. Because the building was constantly tweaked with, there are Byzantine, Romanesque and gothic touches to the building.

Getting into St. Mark’s Basilica can be quite a process. The line to get in curved from the main entrance around the building and back toward the Doge’s Palace. If you get to go, there is a place you can check any large bags, like backpacks (they aren’t allowed in the church) and you get to skip the line and walk right in. It is in a small alley near the church so make sure you do that. We checked our backpack and the group of us got into the church.

The minute we made our way inside, my jaw hit the ground. The narthex is the first room you enter and it is intended to prepare you for what is inside. The mosaic above your head is done in gold is absolutely amazing to look at. Sadly, because we were there on a Sunday, we didn’t get to check out the inside of the church itself because services were still going on so we instead headed up to the museum and toward the balcony. Though we were initially not too thrilled about not being able to get into the church itself, we were quickly stunned to find ourselves above the church, looking down on the services while in a museum and being even closer to the amazing mosaics.

We looked around the museum for a while and made our way onto the balcony in time to notice the crowds gathering below. Being in Venice for Carnivale means that crowds will be heavy wherever you go. There is no escaping them. When you first get onto the balcony, you are greeted by the Greek horses. The Greek horses have been on the basilica since 1254. Dating to classical antiquity, these horses are said to have adorned the Arch of Trajen and supposedly were commissioned by Constantine himself. They made their way to Venice during the 4^th crusades in 1204 when Venice looted them from Constantinople. They were taken by Napoleon briefly but were returned to Venice less than 20 years later. With over a thousand years of sea water and the elements taking these horses on, the originals have now been moved into the museum and the façade is now home to replicas. I got some good pictures on the balcony as a procession of royalty passed through the crowd below.

We made our way back into the museum and continued around the church. Pictures weren’t allowed inside so I didn’t get many good ones but here are some more of the Mosaics on the roof.

When you check a bag, you get an hour free so, with time running short, I started to make my way back to the bag check place. With other events going on in the square, however, my attempts to move were quickly thwarted. I made it about 50 feet before I got stuck and was surrounded by so many people, packed in so tight, I got stuck with my hand in my pocket, unable to take it out because there were so many people around me. We watched the ceremonial angel descend into the square, which was pretty interesting. I still could not get my head around how many people were win the square to begin with. 

I finally made it back to my backpack after a while, late however. The people at the bag check place understood though so I didn’t have to pay anything, which was nice. However, we had lost enough time that our trip to the Doge’s palace would have to be scrapped in order to make it to our next adventure, the lagoon!