On the checklist of a visitor to Venice, St. Mark’s Basilica is a prime one. It is beautiful and also a church with a lot of interesting stories and legends behind this 9th century A.D.
Here are some of the most fascinating facts about St. Mark’s Basilica.
The first St. Mark’s Basilica was built on this spot in the 9th century to house very sacred relics—relics that had been stolen!
Merchants from Venice stole the body of St. Mark the Evangelist in the year 828. According to the legend, they snuck them past the (Muslim) guards by hiding them under layers of pork in barrels.
While at sea, a storm almost drowned the graverobbers and their precious cargo, it’s said that St. Mark himself appeared to the captain and told him to lower the sails. The ship was saved, and the merchants said they owed their safety to the miracle.
The entire story is pictured on the 13th-century mosaic above the left door as you enter the basilica.
There is enough mosaic to cover 1.5 American football fields
There are more than 85,000 square feet (or 8,000 square meters) of mosaic in St. Mark’s Basilica… or almost the mosaic to cover over 1.5 American football fields! The mosaics were done over 8 centuries, mostly in gold, and the result is mind-blowing. Enter the basilica at different times of day to see how the light makes the colors and scenes look different.
Mosaic in Cathedral of St. Mark
Just another example of the sheer size, and amount of amazing stuff, in St. Mark’s Basilica is the number of columns. There are more than 500 columns and capitals in the basilica, and most are Byzantine, dating between the 6th and 11th centuries. Some classical, 3rd-century capitals are mixed in, too.
The 323-foot (98.6-meter) campanile of St. Mark’s dates back to the 9th century… but it had to be rebuilt in 1903. The reason? It collapsed! It had been reworked in the 16th century, and apparently not that well.
From 1903 to 1912, the bell tower was rebuilt exactly as it had been… except with better, safer techniques.
The golden mosaics inside St. Mark’s Basilica are made with Real gold
In the past, Venice was a wealthy city of merchants. The basilica’s mosaics are not just a way to please God and St. Mark or to communicate complex religious concepts, they were also a way to present the richness of the city to important guests, like kings or ambassadors from other countries.
St. Mark’s Basilica was built starting in the 9th century. However, the history of Venice starts way before that moment, in the 5th-6th centuries. So there are many churches around the city before this monument was built. According to historians, the oldest holy building in the city could be the church of San Giacometto, which is very close to the Rialto Bridge.
(This article is adapted and edited from walksofitaly.com)