The Patriarchal Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of San Marco
Evangelista, more commonly called the Basilica of San Marco, in Venice,
is the city's cathedral and seat of the patriarchate. Together with the
bell tower and the square of San Marco, it forms the main architectural
site of Venice, and, together with them, it constitutes the best-known
symbol of the city and of the Veneto in the world. It is also one of the
symbols of Venetian art and Christianity as well as an Italian national
monument.
Already in the 11th century, the Basilica of San Marco
began to be widely nicknamed the "Golden Church", by virtue of the
treasure of San Marco, the ornate mosaics and the majestic design
elements, which made the sacred building the visible symbol of the power
and wealth acquired by the Serenissima.
Until the fall of the
Republic of Venice it was the palatine church of the Doge's Palace,
ruled as a territorial prelature by the primicerio appointed by the
doge. It assumed the title of cathedral starting from 1807, when, by
Napoleonic decree, it was transferred here from the ancient cathedral of
San Pietro di Castello; transfer recognized only in 1821 with the papal
bull
The first church dedicated to San Marco, commissioned by Giustiniano
Partecipazio, was built next to the Doge's Palace in 828 to house the
relics of San Marco stolen, according to tradition, from Alexandria in
Egypt by two Venetian merchants: Bon da Malamocco and Rustico from
Torcello. This church replaced the previous palatine chapel dedicated to
the Byzantine saint Theodore (whose name was pronounced by the Venetians
Tòdaro), built in correspondence with the current Piazzetta dei
Leoncini, north of the Basilica of San Marco. The first bell tower of
San Marco also dates back to the 9th century.
The primitive
church of San Marco was shortly afterwards replaced by a new one,
located in the current place and built in 832; however this one went up
in flames during a revolt in 976 and was then built again in 978 by
Pietro I Orseolo. The current basilica dates back to another
reconstruction (begun by Doge Domenico Contarini in 1063 and continued
by Domenico Selvo and Vitale Falier) which fairly faithfully reproduced
the dimensions and layout of the previous building. In particular, the
architectural form as a whole is very close to that of the ancient
Basilica of the Holy Apostles of Constantinople (destroyed a few years
after the Ottoman conquest), the second most important church in the
city and imperial mausoleum. The new consecration took place in 1094;
legend places the miraculous discovery of the body of San Marco in a
pillar of the basilica in the same year, which had been hidden during
the works in a place that was later forgotten. In 1231 a fire devastated
the basilica of San Marco which was immediately restored.
The gilded mosaic decoration of the interior of the basilica was
almost complete by the end of the 12th century. Within the first half of
the thirteenth century a vestibule (the narthex, often called atrium)
was built which surrounded the entire western arm, creating the
conditions for the construction of a facade (before then the exterior
was with exposed brick, as in the basilica of Murano).
The
following centuries saw the basilica continuously enriched with columns,
friezes, marbles, sculptures, gold brought to Venice on merchant ships
arriving from the East. Often it was bare material, that is, obtained
from ancient demolished buildings. In particular, the loot from the sack
of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade (1204) enriched the treasury
of the basilica and provided furnishings of great prestige.
In 1200, as part of the works that were transforming the appearance
of the square, the domes were raised with Byzantine and Fatimid
construction techniques: they are wooden constructions covered with lead
sheets above the more ancient original domes, on which the mosaic
covering that can be admired inside the church. Only in the fifteenth
century, with the decoration of the upper part of the facades, was the
current external appearance of the basilica defined; despite this, it
constitutes a unitary and coherent whole among the various artistic
experiences to which it has been subjected over the centuries.
Finally, the Baptistery and the Chapel of Sant'Isidoro di Chio (14th
century), the sacristy (15th) and the Zen Chapel (16th) were built. In
1617, with the arrangement of two altars inside, the basilica can be
said to be complete.
As a state church, the basilica was governed by the doge and did not
depend on the patriarch, who had his chair in the church of San Pietro.
The doge himself appointed a ducal clergy led by the primicerio.
The administration of the basilica was entrusted to an important
judiciary of the Republic of Venice, the Procurators of San Marco, who
were based in the Procuratie. All the construction and restoration works
were directed by the proto: great architects such as Jacopo Sansovino
and Baldassare Longhena occupied this position. Procurators of San Marco
and proto still exist and carry out the same tasks for the Patriarchate
as in the past.
With the fall of the Republic, the transfer of
the cathedral from San Pietro di Castello to San Marco had also matured
in those same years. The transfer had already been decided in 1807, in
the middle of the Napoleonic age, when the suppression of the
primiceriato of San Marco was also decreed, the forced unification of
the two chapters and the temporary accommodation of the patriarch in the
more central parish of San Maurizio (already from time, moreover, to
remedy the inconvenience of such a peripheral location of the
patriarchal curia, a branch chancellery had been created at the church
of San Bartolomeo). Only in 1821, however, Pius VII, with the bull
Ecclesias quae, had remedied that provisional situation, fully
confirming the transfer of headquarters from the canonical point of
view.
The Chapter of canons of the Patriarchal Basilica of San
Marco Evangelista, in its current configuration, was established with
the aforementioned bull. In addition to the residential canons, the
archpriests of San Pietro in Castello, and again of Gambarare, Jesolo,
Caorle, Eraclea, Malamocco, Grado in the archdiocese of Gorizia and the
delegate-rector of Torcello are honorary canons during munere. The
residential and honorary canons of the Basilica of San Marco are
apostolic prothonotaries during the munere.
The restoration works of the Basilica which took place in the late
nineteenth century (1865-1875) created a real cultural debate on the
state of conservation of the works contained and on the loss of large
portions of mosaic inside the Zen Chapel and the Baptistery.
Thus
it was that from 1881 to 1893 Ferdinando Ongania, one of the most famous
Venetian publishers, dedicated himself to the creation of a work called
precisely The Basilica of San Marco in Venice, which wanted to record
and preserve the beauty of all the decorative elements that make it
unique the Basilica so that in the future every restoration intervention
would be confronted with the situation documented in his work.
From the outside, divided into three different registers - lower
floor, terrace, domes - the width prevails, since in a city like Venice,
which rests on sandy ground, there was a tendency to build the buildings
in width, with a more balanced weight.
It is in fact 76.5 meters
long and 62.60 wide (in the transept), while the central dome is 43
meters high (28.15 inside). The façade has two orders, one on the ground
floor which is marked by five large splayed portals which lead to the
internal atrium. The central one is decorated in a monumental sense. The
second order forms a passable terrace and has four blind arches plus a
central one in which a loggia opens which houses the quadriga.
The marble facade dates back to the 13th century. Mosaics,
bas-reliefs and a large amount of heterogeneous material were inserted.
This gave the characteristic polychromy, which combines with the complex
chiaroscuro effects due to the multiform openings and the play of
volumes. The two entrance doors at the ends were made with inflected
arched tympanums, of Arab inspiration, perhaps also intended to
commemorate Alexandria in Egypt, where the martyrdom of San Marco had
taken place. The goldsmith and Venetian bronze foundry Bertuccio worked
at the entrance doors.
The bronze doors date back to different
eras: to the south the Porta di San Clemente is Byzantine and dates back
to the 11th century; the central one, of uncertain production, dates
from the 12th century; the secondary doors are later and are decorated
in an antique style. In ancient times, the Porta da Mar opened on the
side facade facing south, the entrance located near the Doge's Palace
and the pier, from which one entered Venice.
Among the mosaics on
the façade, the only remaining thirteenth-century original is the one
above the first portal on the left, the portal of Sant'Alipio, which
represents the entrance of the body of San Marco into the basilica as it
was then. The others, damaged, were rebuilt between the 17th and 19th
centuries maintaining the original subjects, which, with the exception
of the mosaic above the central portal, all have the body of the saint
as the main subject, since its discovery in Alexandria in Egypt by of
two Venetian merchants which took place in 829, upon the arrival of the
sacred remains in the city and the subsequent deposition.
The
lunette of the central portal is decorated according to the typically
Western custom in the Romanesque era, with a Last Judgment, framed by
three sculpted arches of different sizes, which show a series of
Prophets, sacred and civil Virtues, Allegories of the months, Trades and
other symbolic scenes with animals and putti (c. 1215-1245). These
reliefs mix oriental and Lombard Romanesque suggestions (such as the
works of Wiligelmo), but were made by local craftsmen.
From the
inflected arches of the upper order, decorated in flamboyant Gothic
style, the statues of the cardinal and theological Virtues, four warrior
saints and San Marco watch over the city. In the arch of the central
window, under San Marco, the winged lion shows the book with the words
"Pax tibi Marce Evangelista meus".
Among the works of art from Constantinople, the most famous is represented by the famous gilded and silvered bronze horses, of uncertain origin, which were raided by the Venetians during the IV crusade from the Hippodrome of Constantinople, the capital of the Roman Empire of the East and placed above the central portal of the basilica. Of the many quadrigas that adorned the triumphal arches of antiquity, this is the only remaining example in the world. After the long restoration that began in 1977, the horses of San Marco are kept in the Museum of San Marco inside the basilica, replaced on the balcony by copies.
From Piazza San Marco, heading towards the portal of the Doge's
Palace, two tall quadrangular pillars called "acritani" richly decorated
can be seen on the left, not far from the southern facade of the
basilica. They flank the access road to the Baptistery and were probably
placed in this place around the middle of the 13th century. The pillars
are also clearly visible from the shore, as triumphal monuments of the
victories of the Republic of Venice in the wars of the East (brought
from the East as spoils of war). Their location in the panorama of the
Piazzetta, which appears devoid of a precise function, derives from the
actual overabundance of valuable artefacts accumulated by the Venetians
during the various wars that saw it involved over the centuries, who
recognizing their value but having no more spaces empty inside or on the
facade of the basilica they decided to place them where they can be
admired today. The name derives from the legend, known centuries after
their arrival in Venice, which claims the two pillars had been brought
to Venice, together with the Pietra del Bando, after the fall of Acre in
1258. But from a new study on the sources of the contemporary to the
fall of Acre, it appears that neither the Pillars nor the Bando Stone
are ever mentioned. References to the belonging of the Pillars after the
conquest of Acre are instead found only in very late historical works,
i.e. from the 16th and 17th centuries, i.e. a period well after the
events. Until a few years ago, this aroused enough doubts and
perplexities about the origin of their provenance, since even from the
study of the two pillars it was not possible to find any significant
element that would allow to identify a place of origin. In 1960 during
the great works for the construction of new urban arteries in Istanbul,
in the Sarachane district, large blocks of marble that formed the crowns
of niches were brought to light, together with fragments of a monumental
inscription that ran along a vault around to the arches of the niches.
This made it possible to recognize in that inscription parts of an
epigram dedicated to the church of San Poliecto. From these excavations,
during the first archaeological campaign, a large pillar capital was
found which, based on the shape, size and most of the decoration,
corresponded to those of the Acritani pillars in Venice. Finely crafted,
they present Sasanian motifs such as winged palmettes, peacocks, grapes,
executed with distributive clarity and masterful precision; they
represent one of the first evidences of the introduction of oriental
decorations in the western artistic scene.
Near the corner
towards the square is the pietra del bano, a truncated porphyry column
from Syria, from which the commandador of the Republic read the laws and
the bans on citizenship. The stone was broken from the rubble of the
bell tower in 1902.
Work datable towards the end of the 3rd century, transferred to
Venice after the sacking of Constantinople in 1204. It depicts, in a
block of red porphyry about 130 cm high, the figures of the "tetrarchs",
i.e. the two Caesars and the two Augusts (a caesar and an augustus for
each of the parts into which the Roman empire was divided by the emperor
Diocletian with his reform). Among art historians the debate is still
ongoing as to which of the two tetrarchies the sculpture refers to.
A popular legend instead wants this sculpture to be that of four
thieves surprised by the Saint of the basilica intent on stealing his
treasure kept inside and who were petrified by him and subsequently
walled up next to the Porta della Carta by the Venetians, right at the
corner of the Treasury.
The narthex with its subdued light prepares the visitor for the
suffused atmosphere of the gilded interior, like the Old Testament
represented by the mosaics of the domes preparing for the Gospel
depicted in the basilica. The main subjects are Genesis and episodes
from the lives of Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses. The atrium is made up of
two rooms, as the Baptistery and Zen Chapel were obtained by closing off
the south side. The mosaics in the atrium include, among other things,
six domes: Genesis, Abraham, three domes of Joseph and a dome of Moses.
The mosaics of the domes "mark" the time of waiting for the coming of
Jesus, following the thread that identifies the phases of the history of
salvation, after the falls of men, before its fulfillment in Christ,
whose life and whose mysteries are celebrated in the interior mosaics of
the basilica. In Abraham's dome, the protagonist is depicted four times
in conversation with God, represented by a hand coming out of a slice of
heaven. In the dome of Moses he, saved from the Nile, becomes the savior
of his people along the desert and across the Red Sea towards the
promised land.
In the dome of Genesis, or Creation, there are
twenty-six scenes beginning with the creation of heaven and earth.
Uncommon is the scene of the blessing of the seventh day" with God
enthroned surrounded by the six angels of the first six days. Followed
by the creation of Eve from Adam's rib, the temptation of the serpent,
the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and other characteristic episodes
del Libro. The mosaics of the first three domes were created between
1220 and 1240. After a long interruption of work, due to the use of
teams of Venetian mosaicists in the church of San Salvador, the
construction site was reopened with the decoration of the last domes
around 1260-1270.
Next to the portal that leads to the church
there are some niches in which there are mosaics representing the
Theotókos, the Apostles and, in the lower register, the Evangelists.
These mosaics are part of the first decorative campaign of the church,
the one that also includes the mosaic with the four protectors of the
city in the apse (San Pietro, San Nicola, San Marco and Sant'Ermagora)
and the fragments of the Deposition found on the south east of the
presbytery, all dating back to the last quarter of the 11th century,
i.e. to the period of doge Domenico Selvo. The figures of the Theotokos
and the Apostles seem to belong to a Byzantine atelier, while those of
the Evangelists (perhaps of a little later) have characteristics that
bring them closer to the style of Venetian craftsmen. The language is
similar to the provincial Byzantine one, which has its highest outcome
in the mosaics of the church of Neà Monì in Chios.
The plan of the basilica is a Latin cross, even if at first glance it
may seem Greek, with five domes distributed in the center and along the
axes of the cross and connected by arches (as in the church of the Santi
Apostoli from the time of Justinian, an evident model for the Venetian
basilica). The naves, three per arm, are divided by colonnades which
converge towards the massive pillars which support the domes; they are
not built as a single block of masonry but articulated in turn like the
main module: four supports at the top of a square, vaulted connecting
sectors and a central part with a small dome.
The external and
internal walls are instead thin, to lighten the weight of the building
on the delicate Venetian soil, and almost seem diaphragms stretched
between pillar and pillar, to support the balustrade of the women's
galleries; they do not have a supporting function, only a buffer. Walls
and pillars are completely covered, in the lower register, with
polychrome marble slabs. The floor has a marble covering designed with
geometric modules and animal figures using the opus sectile and opus
tessellatum techniques; although continuously restored, it retains some
original parts from the 12th century. The floor reflects motifs of
classical iconography, common in the upper Adriatic area (wheels,
squares, hexagons, octagons, frames decorated with rhombuses, images of
animals symbolic of medieval Christianity) with others which are
influenced by Byzantine influences (the eight large slabs in
Proconnesian marble at the foot of the cross and the other twelve in
Greek marble under the dome of the Ascension).
Elements of
western origin are the crypt, which interrupts the repetitiveness of one
of the five spatial units, and the location of the altar, not in the
center of the structure (as in the Byzantine martyrion), but in the
presbytery. For this reason the arms are not identical, but on the
east-west axis they have a wider central nave, thus creating a main
longitudinal axis that directs the gaze towards the high altar, which
houses the remains of San Marco. Behind the high altar, facing the apse,
is the Pala d'oro, which is part of the Treasury of San Marco.
The group of historiated columns that support the ciborium above the
high altar reproduce early Christian models, with quotations that are
also copied, although perhaps recontextualized or even misunderstood.
This specially recreated revival is to be seen in Venice's desire to
reconnect with the time of Constantine by taking on the inheritance of
the Imperii christiani after having conquered Constantinople. The
presbytery is separated from the rest of the basilica by an iconostasis,
inspired by Byzantine churches. It is made up of eight columns in red
brocatelle marble and crowned by a tall Crucifix and statues of Pier
Paolo and Jacobello dalle Masegne, a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture
(late 14th century). The presbytery leads to the sacristy and to a 15th
century church dedicated to San Teodoro, built by Giorgio Spavento,
which houses an Adoration of the Child by Giambattista Tiepolo. Also
noteworthy are the pillars close to the portal, on which Sebastiano da
Milano sculpted plant motifs.
At the beginning of the right transept, connected to the Doge's
Palace, is the ambo of the relics, from where the newly elected doge
showed himself to the Venetians. In the left aisle are the chapel of San
Clemente and the altar of the Sacrament. Here is the pillar where the
body of San Marco was found in 1094, as told in the interesting mosaics
of the right aisle (from where you enter the rooms of the Treasury of
San Marco). In the mosaics of the discovery of the body of the saint
(13th century), the interior of the basilica is shown in two scenes and
the prayer of invocation and thanksgiving of the doge, the patriarch
with his clergy, the nobles and the people.
Left transept
At
the beginning of the left transept there is instead the double ambo for
reading the Scriptures; follow, in the right aisle, the chapel of San
Pietro and the chapel of the Madonna Nicopeia, a Byzantine icon that
arrived in Venice after the Fourth Crusade and object of devotion. On
the north side there are the entrances to the chapel of Sant'Isidoro di
Chio and to the Mascoli chapel.
The mosaic decoration of the basilica covers a very large period of
time and is probably dictated by a coherently unitary iconographic
programme.
The oldest mosaics are those in the apse (Christ
Pantocrator, remade however in the 16th century, and figures of saints
and apostles) and in the entrance (Apostles and Evangelists, mentioned
above), made at the end of the 11th century by Greek and Venetian
artists, and which show affinities to the mosaics, for example, of the
Ursiana Cathedral in Ravenna (1112) or to those of the Apostles in the
apse of the Cathedral of San Giusto in Trieste.
The Apostles with
the Theotokos and the Evangelists probably decorated the central
entrance to the basilica even before the construction of the narthex.
The remaining mosaics of the building were added in the second great
decorative campaign starting from the second half of the XII century, by
Byzantine and Venetian artists.
The atrium presents Stories from
the Old Testament, the three domes on the longitudinal axis divine and
Christological apotheosis, the relative arches present episodes from the
Gospels, the lateral domes stories of saints.
The Dome of
Pentecost (the first in the west) was built by the end of the 12th
century, perhaps by reproducing the Byzantine miniatures of a Byzantine
court manuscript. The central dome is called the Ascension, while the
one above the main altar is the Emmanuel, and were decorated after that
of the Pentecost.
Subsequently he dedicated himself to the
historiation of the Genesis dome of the atrium (about 1220-1240),
faithfully following the illustrations of the Cotton Bible (another
early Christian revival). The stories of the ancient patriarchs unfold
on the vaults and domes below: Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses. This
Genesis dome is geometrically divided into three concentric circular
bands around a golden scale decoration in the centre. The story is
divided into twenty-six scenes above which runs the biblical text in
Latin which begins with the words: "In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth. The Spirit of God hovered over the waters". The
days of creation follow in succession, in each of which the figure of
God the creator is present, identified - according to oriental
iconography - in the young Christ with the crossed halo and the
processional cross, the living Word of the Father, and with him, until
from the beginning, creator of the universe, as we read at the beginning
of John's Gospel.
The north transept, built later, has the dome
dedicated to St. John the Evangelist and Stories of the Virgin in the
arches. The southern one has the dome of San Leonardo (with other
saints) and, above the right aisle, Fatti della vita di San Marco. In
these works and in the contemporary ones in the gallery, the Venetian
artists increasingly introduced Western elements, derived from
Romanesque and Gothic art.
Later are the mosaics of the domes of
Joseph and Moses, on the north side of the atrium, probably from the
second half of the 13th century, where grandiose effects are sought with
a reduction of the architectural settings in function of the narration.
Other notable mosaics decorate the Baptistery, the Mascoli Chapel and
the Chapel of Sant'Isidoro.
The last mosaic decorations are those
of the Zen Chapel (south corner of the atrium), where a Greek master of
remarkable skill would have worked again.
Many deteriorated
mosaics were later redone keeping the original subjects. Some of the
cartoons were made by Michele Giambono, Paolo Uccello, Andrea del
Castagno, Paolo Veronese, by Jacopo Tintoretto and his son Domenico
(these of the two Robusti often made by Lorenzo Ceccato) Titian and
Padovanino instead prepared the cartoons for the mosaics in the
sacristy.
The 12th century mosaics are of Greek origin and are
the work of artists who, for convenience of reference, can be called
master of Emmanuel, master of the Ascension, master of Pentecost,
supported by many assistants. The dome of the Emmanuel, the hemicycle of
the apse, the side chapels with the stories of St. Mark, Peter and the
Clementines and the miracles of Christ in the transepts are attributed
to the first. On the second, the stories of the Passion and the
Ascension, the side domes and the martyrdom of the Apostles on the vault
and on the southern lunette of the basilica's pedestal, on the third,
finally, the dome of the Pentecost and probably the two western vaults,
redecorated in the Renaissance with the Apocalypse of John and Paradise.
After the thirteenth century, a translation of the mosaic artistic
language took place, passing "from Greek to Latin", by artists such as
Paolo Veneziano. This translation is deepened in the cycle of the chapel
of S. Isidoro and is completed both by the work of Paolo Uccello and in
the chapel of the Mascoli, towards the middle of the fifteenth century,
where the presence of Andrea del Castagno is recorded.
The
mosaics inside, mostly from the 12th century, are inspired by the
principles of Byzantine art. The central nucleus, narrating the story of
Christian salvation, ranges from messianic prophecies to the second
coming (parousia) of Christ the judge at the end of the world and has
its focal points in the three large domes of the main nave: the dome of
the Presbytery, the Ascension and of Pentecost. Its reading must be done
from the Presbytery towards the facade, from east to west, following the
course of the sun, to which Christ is symbolically associated, who is
the perpetual sun for men.
In the dome of the Presbytery we find
the prophets who, around Mary, announce the texts of their prophecies.
Close to Mary, in a prayerful attitude and in a central position,
Isaiah, pointing to the beardless young man in the center of the dome,
pronounces the words: "Behold, the Virgin will conceive and give birth
to a son who will be called Emmanuel, God with us" (7:14 ); and David,
progenitor of the royal lineage of Israel, wearing the sumptuous robes
of the emperor of Byzantium, proclaims the kingship of the child who
will be born of her "The fruit of your womb I will place on my throne"
(Psalm 132, 11). The same iconographic theme returns to the walls of the
central nave: ten mosaic paintings, magnificent works from the 13th
century (the pinakes), present, on the right wall, the Virgin, on the
left, Christ Emmanuel, respectively surrounded by four prophets. The
fulfillment of the prophecies begins in the scenes depicting the angel's
announcement to Mary and follows with the adoration of the Magi, the
presentation in the temple, the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River on
the vault above the iconostasis (mosaics redone on Jacopo Tintoretto).
In the two transepts, on the walls and on the vaults, the acts of
Jesus are translated into numerous images to comfort the sick, the
suffering and sinners.
On the south and west vaults under the
central dome the conclusive facts of Jesus' life are gathered: the entry
into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the washing of the feet, the kiss of
Judas and the condemnation of Pilate.
The large panel of the
Oration in the Garden dates from the 13th century. At the center of the
basilica are the scenes of the Crucifixion and the Descent into Hell
(anastasis, in Greek) with the large image of Christ victorious over
death, as well as the depiction of the Resurrection. In the Ascension
dome in the starry circle in the center is Christ, seated on a rainbow,
carried upwards by four flying angels. Below, among splendid trees
representing the earthly world, are the twelve Apostles with the Virgin
and two angels. Among the small windows, sixteen female figures,
dancing, are the personification of virtues and beatitudes: among the
many present, we remember faith, justice, patience, mercy and charity
crowned in royal robes with the inscription in Latin " mother of all
virtues".
The third dome is that of Pentecost where the Holy
Spirit, in the center with the etimasia, in the symbol of the dove
descends in the form of tongues of fire on the apostles. At the base,
between the small windows, groups of peoples are represented who
listened, each in their own language, to the Christian message. At the
top of the dome, in the center of a nimbus made up of concentric
circles, the symbols of the throne, the book and the dove allude to the
Father seated on the throne of heaven, to the Word whose word is
condensed in the book of the Gospel, to the Holy Spirit who inaugurates
the new phase of human history evoked with the image of the dove which,
carrying the olive branch, had announced the end of the flood and a
future of life and peace.
On the internal counter-façade there is
the Byzantine iconographic motif of the Deesis (Intercession) in which
Saint Mark replaces the traditional Saint John the Baptist. In the right
aisle of the presbytery, a 12th-century Byzantine mosaic represents the
theft of the body of San Marco from Alexandria in Egypt to Venice.
The Venetians Tribuno and Rustico are represented, assisted by their
accomplices from Alexandria, who place the body of the saint in a chest;
the transport of this to the cry kanzir ("porcine meat" in Arabic); the
disgust of the Muslim customs officers for the unclean goods, the ship
leaving Alexandria; the storm at sea near the estuary; the festive
welcome in Venice. The Christ Pantocrator in the presbytery stands in
the center of a bejeweled throne, with his right hand raised as a sign
of blessing and his left hand holding the open Book, adorned with
precious stones that symbolize the extraordinary spiritual and
eschatological value of his announcement.Around four evangelists write
the the beginning of his own Gospel.Below is the Virgin Mary, praying,
and at her sides two donors: the doge Ordelaffo Falier and the Byzantine
empress Irene of Athens.
In a lower arch of the south gallery,
there is the representation of "SANCTUS CESARIUS", San Cesario, deacon
and martyr of Terracina - the tutelary saint of the Roman emperors,
invoked against drownings and floods - and of his companion in martyrdom
"SANCTUS IULIANUS", Saint Julian, priest and martyr.
All the
mosaic scenes, immersed in gold which, according to the Eastern
tradition is a symbol of divine light, are completed by inscriptions in
Latin: biblical passages, punctually transcribed or resumed in summary
form from the Vulgate of Saint Jerome, or beautiful prayers and
invocations in medieval poetic form. The various mosaic scenes have
explanations in leonine verses. These inscriptions are also present in
the atrium.
Above the figure of the hetimasia, the preparation of
the throne for the Last Judgement, between two cherubs and two
archangels. On the sides of the central composition, in hierarchical
succession from bottom to top, there are twelve prophets, twelve
apostles, twelve archangels. Above, between deacons spreading incense,
the feasts of the Byzantine church are depicted. On the floor of the
basilica various animals are depicted in mosaics, taken from medieval
bestiaries, including the peacock, the Christian symbol of immortality.
The marvelous 12th-century polychrome mosaics that cover the floor
of the Basilica feature two different techniques: opus tessellatum,
which uses tesserae of different sizes but cut regularly, and opus
sectile, an assembly of tiny irregular fragments of different stones,
used especially for the geometric and zoomorphic motifs.
Also
interesting are the mosaics in the anti-baptistery and baptistery,
executed in the 14th century.
In 2017, the completion of the
orthophotographic and photogrammetric surveys of all the surfaces of the
basilica frescoed with mosaics was communicated. The technique used
allows for the creation of high-resolution 2D and 3D images, which can
be navigated in a high-performance manner and according to a plane of
continuous light, with no shadow areas.
In 1819/20 the founder Domenico Canciani Dalla Venezia cast a new
concert, consisting of 5 bells, with the remains of the old bells
(including the largest, weighing over 40 quintals); of this concert, in
the collapse of 1902, only the main bell survived, heir to the famous
Marangona. The bells broken during the collapse of the bell tower were
instead recast, reusing the shards of the old 4 bells to melt the new
ones. These new bells were donated by Pope Pius X. The new concert, made
by the Barigozzi founders of Milan in 1909 in a specially built foundry
on the island of Sant'Elena, is made up of five bells, whose names are
linked to the occasions in which were formerly used:
Marangona or
Carpentiera or Campanon (earlier), note La2, cast by Domenico Canciani
in 1819/20, diameter of 180 cm; weight of 36.25 quintals;
it is the
main bell and the only one to have survived the collapse of the previous
bell tower in 1902; its tolling announced the beginning and end of the
working hours of the marangoni (from which the bell takes its name),
i.e. the carpenters of the Arsenale (and this traditional sound has
remained in part today with the expanse of the Ninth at midday, which in
addition to announcing the Angelus, reminds us of the end of working
hours; and at 2.00 pm, with the ringing of the 2 smaller bells, to
announce the start of afternoon work, in fact). Marangona also played
for the sessions of the Great Council.
Ninth or mezzana (second),
falling B2 note, cast by the Barigozzi Brothers of Milan in 1909,
diameter 156 cm; weight of 25.56 quintals;
It always rang at noon and
midnight, the time when the last letters could be sent to the Rialto.
Trottiera or Quarantìa (third), note C♯3 falling, cast by the Barigozzi
Brothers of Milan in 1909, diameter 138.5 cm; weight of 18.07 quintals;
It rang to give the second signal to the nobles who were to attend the
meetings of the Great Council.
Pregadi or Mezza Terza (fourth), D3
waning, cast by the Barigozzi Brothers of Milan in 1909; diameter of
129cm; weight of 13.66 quintals;
He played for the meetings of the
Senate, whose members were called Pregadi; for all religious functions
and at the crack of dawn.
Renghiera or Maleficio (fifth), note E3
waning, cast by the Barigozzi Brothers of Milan in 1909, diameter 116
cm; weight of 10.11 quintals;
it is the smallest of the bells and
announced the executions that took place between the columns of San
Marco and San Todaro.
The plenum, i.e. the full sounding of all
the bells at the same time, takes place only for the major solemnities
of the liturgical year and for the feast of San Marco (April 25).
The bells were momentarily jammed with wooden blocks by Morellato,
originally electrified in 1953 by the Swiss company "Schlieren - Wagons
& Ascenseurs", and currently under maintenance by Vanin of Trebaseleghe
(PD), which redone the plant in 1996.
In January 2018, the
Prosecutor's office of the Basilica of San Marco decided to install 5
external electro-firing devices for each of the 5 bells. These "hammers"
simulate, by means of disorderly tolling, the traditional momentum sound
(bell in movement or rather rocking in which the clapper flies and
strikes the upper side of the bronze). Already in 2017, a hammer had
been installed on the second bell called Nona to simulate the midday
expanse. These hammers have been installed for the safety of tourists
although the bells are serviced every month and no accidents have ever
occurred. Not even the plenum of the 5 bells on solemnities is no longer
performed with the bells ringing during the opening hours of the bell
tower.
In ancient times, the side naves had galleries with wooden floors
that covered them, according to typically oriental models, which were
reduced to very narrow balustrade passages to allow the mosaics of the
vaults to be admired even from below. The numerous galleries provided
the inspiration for the development of the Venetian polychoral style for
the composers of San Marco. The most important were the organists and
composers Andrea Gabrieli and Giovanni Gabrieli (uncle and nephew), who
are credited with introducing the use of musical instruments for sacred
music in the church, as well as the development of antiphonal music.
Among the main composers, mostly appointed as chapel masters, who
worked in the basilica are Gioseffo Zarlino, Jacques Arcadelt, Antonio
Lotti, Baldassare Galuppi, Claudio Monteverdi, Lorenzo Perosi and
others. The choir assigned to the musical service in the cathedral is
still today the ancient and prestigious Cappella Marciana.
Organs
Callido-Trice-Tamburini organ
On the choir loft to the left of the
presbytery is the main organ of the basilica. This one, built by Gaetano
Callido in 1766, was enlarged by William George Trice in 1893 and by the
Tamburini firm in 1972 (opus 638). The instrument, with two keyboards of
58 notes each and a pedalboard of 30, has a mixed transmission:
mechanical for the manuals and the pedal, electric for the stops.
Organ Callido
On the choir loft to the right of the presbytery,
there is the pipe organ Gaetano Callido opus 30, built in 1766. In 1909
the instrument was removed (to make room for a new organ, built by the
Mascioni company) and reinstalled in 1995 after a restoration conducted
by Franz Zanin. The Mascioni organ (opus 284) was pneumatically driven,
with two keyboards and a pedal board. In 1994 it was dismantled,
restored and reassembled in the church of Santa Maria della Pace in
Mestre, where it is regularly used for liturgical services and for
concerts.
The Callido organ has an entirely mechanical
transmission, has a single keyboard of 57 notes with a scavezza first
octave and a scavezza lectern pedalboard, constantly combined with the
manual. The case is no longer the original Baroque one, but a wooden one
with simpler shapes and no decorations.
De Martino organ
It is
a small positive organ of the Neapolitan school, from 1720, the work of
the organ builder Tommaso de Martino; it was restored by Franz Zanin in
1995 and placed in the apse niche at the epistle. With mechanical
transmission, it is equipped with a 45-note manual and has no pedal.
Cimino organ
It is a small organ of the Neapolitan school, from
1779, the work of the organ builder Fabrizio Cimmino; it was recovered
by Giorgio and Cristian Carrara in 1999 and placed in the Basilica in
2014, next to the altar of the Madonna Nicopeia. With mechanical
transmission, it is equipped with a 45-note manual with a short first
octave and an 8-note lectern pedalboard, constantly joined to the
manual.
The "unknown architect"
The number of the basilica is five: it
appears drawn in the manner of the dice and is visible in the chair on
which sits the so-called "unknown architect" of San Marco. The
bas-relief depicting him is the first from the left, inside the large
arch of the central door. The "unknown architect" is represented in the
guise of an oriental sage with a turban: Greeks, in fact, were the
architects called to build the Basilica by Doge Contarini. He is
represented seated to underline his level of dignity, and also carries a
crutch, a sign of physical infirmity. In this he is associated with the
great Greek and Nordic mythical tradition which allowed homo faber to
reach very high levels but forced him to somehow pay the price with
infirmity. The architect is then represented in the act of biting his
finger: legend attributes this expression of disappointment to the
punishment that the doge would have given him after, to his
congratulations for the great work completed, the architect had replied:
"I could have do it better" (if I had more money): for this act of pride
he was punished.
The "divine architecture"
God, the Trinity
are identified with the number three or, geometrically, with a triangle.
The world, in ancient times, was instead identified with the number
four, with the four cardinal points. The figure enclosed in four points
is deformable: in fact, a rectangle, a rhombus, a trapezoid can be
obtained. And what is deformable is also unstable, while the triangle
always remains so. The basilica of San Marco is identified with the
five, the five domes. The central one is of the historical Christ. There
is a symbolic meaning of this: the arrival of Christ "divinizes"
creation just as the central dome divides the square given by the four
outer domes into four triangles. And in this way also the created-square
becomes non-deformable.
Other symbols in the Basilica
The
three flag-bearing pillars in front of St. Mark's Basilica today carry
the flags of Italy, Europe and Venice. They represented the territories
of Candia, Morea and Cyprus conquered by Venice.
A starry
dodecahedron is found on the floor before the main entrance door to the
Basilica, under the iconostasis and on the choir. For the sages of
Antiquity, it was a symbol of Venus, the regent planet of Venice. It
represents the manifestation of the Divine form in Nature: Plato made it
a symbol of the harmony of the cosmos (Platonic solids).
To the
left of the side entrance to the Basilica, on the mosaic floor, there is
a rhinoceros of uncertain date. The plant behind it is a symbol of
strength. This image would also be a talisman to ward off disease.
The porphyry lozenge on the floor of the atrium, in front of the
main portal, represents the exact spot where the emperor Frederick
Barbarossa knelt before Pope Alexander III in 1177.
On the
ground, near the Pala d'oro, along the exit route, there is a stone
depicting a ducal horn and an animal, a black hedgehog. The heart of
doge Francesco Erizzo (1566-1646, doge from 1631) was buried here. The
hedgehog is a symbol of the patrician family it belongs to. The rest of
the remains are in the church of San Martino in Castello.