Basilica di San Marco, Venice

After a couple of failed attempts when we just couldn’t get our timings right, we finally managed to see inside the Basilica di San Marco, Saint Mark’s Cathedral. Even though we got to the Piazza early a line had already started forming, but thankfully we were still early enough that we didn’t have too long to wait.

The Basilica di San Marco is the most famous of Venice’s churches and was originally the chapel of the Doge. It became the city’s cathedral in 1807. The first St Mark’s Basilica was built in the 9th century to house very sacred relics, relics that had been stolen by merchants from Venice. In 828, they stole the body of Saint Mark the Evangelist, one of the four Apostles, from Alexandria, Egypt. Story has it that while at sea, the graverobbers and their precious cargo were almost drowned by raging storms. However, St. Mark himself appeared to the captain and told him to lower the sails and the ship was saved.

The original church was burned in a rebellion in 976 and restored or rebuilt in 978. The present basilica was constructed in 1063 and while the basic structure of the building has not been altered much, the decoration and façade has changed greatly over time, to be the beautiful and elaborate building it is today.

One thing we did find disappointing was the fact it was a very regimented walk through the interior of the building, and no photos were allowed. It was so beautiful inside and it was a real pity we could not photograph it.

Unlike most Italian churches, San Marco never made the transition to fresco wall painting and is mostly covered in mosaics. This was probably partly due to a wish to support the local Murano glass industry, which supplied the tesserae. The upper levels of the interior are completely covered with bright mosaics, covering an area of about 8000 square metres, done over eight centuries, mostly in gold, and it is breathtaking.

There are more than 500 columns, dating between the 6th and 11th centuries, each one elaborately decorated. And the marble inlay in rich earth tones cover 2099 square metres of the floor in intricate geometrical and natural patterns. It was almost sensory overload with so much to admire.

One of the highlights was going up to the top of the Cathedral and being able to stand outside on the gallery over the main entrance, next to the four famous horses, overlooking the Piazza, although the ones on the terrace now are copies with the originals being displayed inside the Museum.

It was fantastic to finally see inside this famous church and see what all the fuss was about. I just wish we could have wandered around a bit more to fully admire everything without feeling the pressure from the line to move on. Another tick off the bucket list.Read more