Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice

Detail on the Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice

Detail on the Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice

The most famous church in Venice is Saint Mark’s Basilica or Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco in. The name San Marco probably rings a bell since the plaza in front of it is also quite well known. As I already expected, the plaza outside the basilica is teeming with people. I should have already known this since there were already a lot of people when we got off the train station. This is probably peak time for tourism and everyone is here to get a piece of the action. Saint Mark’s Basilica has an interesting design where it reminds me to domes of mosques. The onion domes really are reminiscent of mosques but I don’t see any reference to them and they could only be coincidental. This wasn’t the first church that was built in the area, that one dated back to the 9th century. To house the supposed relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist.

Construction Ongoing at the Saint Mark's Basilica in Venice

Construction Ongoing at the Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice

A building staying intact for a long period of time is unheard of, and Saint Mark’s Basilica was burned down during a rebellion. The current structure comes from the 11th century, still very old. The basilica features beautiful mosaic for which it is famous for. Unfortunately, the basilica’s exterior was under renovation. I suppose that it does require a lot of renovation since it is exposed to salt water all the time. Not only that, the tide also comes in and floods the basilica itself. My photos of the exterior of the basilica weren’t very good because of the scaffolds outside.

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