| ||||||||||||
|
Basilica di San MarcoSt. Mark's Basilica
ABOVE: St. Mark's Basilica faces the Piazza San Marco, just behind the Campanile (bell tower) and next to the Doge's Palace. TOP INSET PHOTO: St. Mark, his retinue of angels, and a winged lion (click thumbnail for a larger image).
In The World of Venice, Jan Morris has this to say about Venice's Catholic religion and cathedral:
If bones are barbaric (as they may seem if you're a relic-phobic Protestant), the Basilica's "rich barbarism" may be due, in part, to the reason for its existence. The Basilica was constructed as a home for the bones of St. Mark the Evangelist, whose remains were stolen from Alexandria, Egypt by two Venetian merchants who smuggled the saint's bones past Muslim customs officials by stuffing them into a barrel of pork in 828 AD. After 200 years or so in temporary quarters, the Evangelist's bones were moved to the new Basilica di San Marco (the third church on the site) in the 11th Century.
The official Basilica di San Marco Web site has more details on the church's history, art, and architecture. For information on touring the Basilica (and avoiding long lines), see our visitor information on the next page. For more pictures, see the captioned photos on page 3 of this article. Next page: Visitor information
Top inset photo copyright © Luke Daniek. |