St Mark’s Basilica
Basilica di San Marco
Built for the relics of Saint Mark, covered inside with golden mosaics.
Venetian merchants smuggled the body of Saint Mark out of Alexandria in 828, hidden under pork so the Muslim guards would not search the basket. The basilica was built to hold it, and rebuilt in its present form from 1063.
Its five domes and its walls of marble and gold mosaic show Venice’s ties with Byzantium. On its front stand copies of the four bronze horses brought from Constantinople in 1204; the originals are inside.
More in Venice
Piazza San MarcoThe only square in Venice called a piazza, ringed by arcades and opening onto the lagoon.
Doge’s PalaceThe pink and white Gothic palace from which the doges ruled the Republic of Venice.
Campanile di San MarcoThe bell tower of St Mark’s, which fell down in 1902 and was rebuilt “where it was, as it was”.
Bridge of SighsThe covered stone bridge between the Doge’s Palace and the prisons, built in 1600.
Rialto BridgeThe stone bridge of 1591 over the Grand Canal, with shops along its arch.
Grand CanalThe great S-shaped waterway through the middle of Venice, lined with palaces.
MercerieThe chain of narrow shopping lanes from St Mark’s to the Rialto, the race route in the game.
La FeniceVenice’s opera house, which has risen from its ashes more than once, as its name promises.
GondolaThe long black boat of Venice, rowed standing up with a single oar.
VaporettoThe water bus of Venice, chugging up and down the Grand Canal from stop to stop.
CarnivalTwo weeks of masks and costumes before Lent, filling the squares of Venice.
Acqua altaThe high tides that flood St Mark’s Square, now held back by the MOSE barriers.