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Great Discoveries "Personal Tour Guides" will provide you with the most enjoyable and informative way to visit the St. Mark’s Basilica. Our carefully researched tour identifies and locates the most relevant treasures to ensure that you do not miss important works and that you clearly understand each items artistic and historic significance. As you view these carefully selected treasures, our professional narrators, accompanied by historically appropriate background music, will delight, amuse and inform you, making your visit a most memorable experience. Learn about this magnificent Byzantium - Gothic basilica, with wondrous mosaics, that has dominated St. Mark's Square for over 900 years. Informative descriptions, photo's, building diagrams, sample audio tracks and more.
St. Mark's Basilica is unique for its wealth of history and for the magnificence of its facade and its interior. It was designed by an unknown Byzantine architect who built the church in the form of a Greek cross with five large domes, one for each arm of the cross, and one at the center. He supposedly modeled the Basilica after the Apostoleion, or Church of the Twelve Apostles, of Constantinople, which was later destroyed during the Turkish invasion in the 15th century. Its opulent style, with mosque-like onion shaped domes, clearly reflects the influence of Constantinople and the Orient.
Over the centuries, some of the greatest Italian, European and Eastern artists have worked in this glorious studio creating exotic, ornate, and utterly breathtaking art. Some 8,000 square meters of mediaeval mosaics, made from gold, semi precious stones and Venetian glass, covers the walls, vaults, and cupolas. Eight centuries of artisans and craftsmen have contributed to these wondrous decorations that characterize the evolution of Venetian art.
St. Mark’s Basilica is a martyrium, a sacred burial place for the mortal remains of martyrs. It has been a very significant holy place since the arrival of St. Mark’s relics in 828 A.D. Mark the Evangelist was martyred in 68 A.D. by being drug behind a horse through the streets of Alexandria. His body remained in Alexandria for over 700 years and then according to popular myth two Venetian merchants pulled off what has been called “the greatest heist in Christendom.” They stole the mortal remains of the evangelist and then, to smuggle it out, they hid their precious cargo beneath a layer of pork, which Muslim customs officers found too repulsive to search. A mosaic on the west exterior of the Basilica's facade details this event by illustrating a customs official comically pinching his nose in disgust.
After an adventurous journey across the Mediterranean, the merchants arrived in Venice and were greeted enthusiastically by Doge Christiniano Parteciaco, his court and local bishops and clergy. With great pomp and ceremony, St. Mark’s body was received and placed in a corner of the doge’s palace until an appropriate basilica could be built.
When it was time to transfer St. Mark’s body; alas, it could not be found! You can imagine the uproar, the arguments and the excuses – had the body been destroyed in the fire of 976? Had the location of the burial simply been forgotten? The citizens turned to prayer and fasting, and on June 25th, while the mighty and common alike gathered in prayer and lamentation, a miracle of sorts occurred. There was a tremor, and lo and behold the arm of St. Mark emerged from a pillar on the southern side of the temple and all of Venice rejoiced!
Now that his body was found again, the relics were displayed in the center of the building, immersed in sweet incense as the news spread throughout the region and all of Europe. Countless pilgrims traveled to visit the holy relics, including the Holy Roman Emperor, until October 8 when the body was sealed in a precious sarcophagus and placed inside the crypt built by Doge Falier. It remained there until the early 1800’s, when it was moved to its present location under the table of the high altar. It lies there to this day, where the faithful continue to visit to express their devotion to the saint. Angelo Fiorenzuola once wrote “In Venice, St. Mark was honored more highly than God Himself.”
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St.
Mark’s Basilica has majestically dominated Venice Italy’s
grand square, the Piazza San Marco, for over 900 years.
The
mosaics are virtual storybooks revealing the history of Venice and
illustrating events from the Bible. They depict stories from the
Old and New Testaments including events in the lives of Christ,
the Virgin Mary, Saint Mark, and other saints. Their warm colors,
particularly the gold, decorate all of the ample spaces of the Basilica,
the interior as well as the exterior. Essentially Byzantine in its
architecture, the Basilica finds in its mosaics its natural integrating
element. As in most Middle-Eastern churches, the interaction of
the decoration with a dim, but ever changing light, according to
the time of day, creates a range of evocative and intense effects.
The
present building is the third church to be built on the current
site. The first erected to house St. Mark’s body became a
famous Christian sanctuary, visited by pilgrims from all over Europe
throughout the middle ages. It was destroyed by a fire during a
citizens uprising in 976, and a new church was built on the exact
spot. By the 11th century, the Venetians had become quite wealthy
and their city was renowned as a great political, trading, and marine
power. It just would not do to have the other Italian cities better
them in the construction or renovation of wonderful cathedrals,
especially their antagonist, the city of Pisa. Therefore, in 1063
Doge Domenico Contarini decided to demolish St. Mark’s sanctuary
and replace it with the larger and more elaborate cathedral we see
today. It took 31 years to complete the churches construction and it was not consecrated
until 1094.
for your first sample before playing the second sample, or you
will not hear it.
