St Mark's Basilica
Saint Mark’s Basilica—Italian *Basilica di San Marco*—is remembered as the Patriarchal Cathedral of Venice, dedicated to Saint Mark the Evangelist and believed to hold his relics. It later became the episcopal seat of the Patriarch of Venice in 1807, replacing the earlier cathedral of San Pietro di Castello. Before the Republic’s fall in 1797, the church functioned as the Doge’s chapel and sat within his jurisdiction, with the procurators of Saint Mark handling key administrative and financial matters. Architecturally, the basilica expressed Venice’s ambitions through a Byzantine core, with later Romanesque and Islamic influences, and even Gothic elements added over time. Venice’s wealth also showed in the arrival of spoils from Constantinople after the Fourth Crusade, including the four ancient bronze horses displayed over the entry. …
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