travelingidahogirl

St. Mark’s Basilica

Anyone who visits Venice has probably gone into St. Mark’s Basilica—it is surely Venice’s top sight. The huge, multi-domed structure dominates Piazza San Marco. This place gives a whole new meaning to “over-the-top.”

The front of the building has dozens of columns (on top of columns) of varying colors of marble—grey, green, purple, pink, white. Apparently, merchants from around the world just brought back columns from wherever. This place wasn’t concerned with consistency. Or theft.

Rick Steves calls the basilica “a kind of architectural Venetian trophy chest” because so much of the place is built with stuff taken from other places. The bronze horses that look out from the balcony were stolen from Constantinople during 4th crusade. The church has a Treasury which is filled with stolen booty. The golden altarpiece (which requires €2 to see) is covered in pearls, rubies, emeralds, sapphire, topaz, and blue enamel taken, once again, from Constantinople. The entire reason for the building of the church is a result of a stolen saint—or his bones. The church’s namesake, St. Mark (you know, he of the Gospel of Mark) is said to be buried here—after his body was stolen from Egypt in 828 (not sure how it got to Egypt, but apparently early Christians felt that whole “Thou shalt not steal” commandment didn’t really apply if the owners were of another faith). By the way, I just learned that my favorite winged lion of the Veneto region is St. Mark’s symbol.

Back to the church façade: All across the top of the roof-line are pointy spires; statues of saints, cherubs, and angels (with St. Mark at the center, tippy-top); and leafy ornamentation—seriously, there is no room for anything else to be crammed in on this roof-line. Each domed archway is filled with an elaborate mosaic (more of those on the second level). Over the center door, the arch is carved with a variety of marble reliefs. It is pretty colorful.

As magnificent as the exterior is, it really does little to prepare you for when you step inside. Your eyes are bombarded with gold, primarily from the entire ceiling covered in mosaic. (Picture-taking is not allowed inside—although it didn’t seem strictly enforced as I saw several people openly taking pictures and even more doing so more slyly. I resisted the urge—blame my parents for the whole raising-their-children-to-follow-the-rules thing. Of course, now that I’ve said that, I’ll probably be a rule-breaker next time I visit….)

This Basilica was started in 1063—the first one burned. I don’t know a date for when it was considered finished, but they kept adding to it over the next six centuries. When you look up, you can see why it took so long. I cannot imagine how many people, over the years, it would take to arrange gold flecks, bronze pieces, and precious stones into a picture and then glue them up forty or fifty feet off the ground. I could stand to come back over and over again to take in one or two designs at a time (entry to just the church part is free, so if the line isn’t too long, I’ll do it—I’ve been inside three times already) because it is too overwhelming to try to take it all in at once (not to mention neck-wrenching).

The floors are also designed in a variety of mosaics, this time made from marble. And then, of course, each marble pillar is carved, statues of the Christ’s disciples line the entry to the high altar, and probably a whole heck of a lot more is worth examining that I’ve yet to notice.

Upstairs is the Basilica museum (costs €4). The coolest thing about this is that you can walk outside onto the balcony overlooking St. Mark’s Square and the lagoon. The second coolest thing about the museum is a closer view of the mosaic ceiling (but through a plexiglass-type covered view). They also have the original bronze horses inside the museum—the ones outside are replicas, to protect the originals.

Personally, I like a simple style. I don’t like to have tons of knick-knacks on shelves (of course, my house has plenty of clutter, but that’s not a stylistic choice) or ornate furniture. Basilica San Marco didn’t pick any one style of architecture—it took something from everywhere. It is completely overwhelming, but not to be missed if you’re in the area.

posted by travelingidahogirl @ 5:08 PM