Site Home - What's New? Feedback - About Jack- Travel/Art Links
Venice
|
Site Home - What's New? Feedback - About Jack- Travel/Art Links |
|
|
|
Venice |
|
Venice-Basilica San Marco-Introduction, history and anecdotes |
||
Oriental, rich and exuberant, at such a point
that we can't imagine where Venice's wealth will stop, the BASILICA SAN MARCO,
or "CHIESA D'ORO", is a treasure different from anything we ever
experienced! A symbol of the glory of Venice, a great, complex and mysterious
building, the basilica has always been the subject of more commentaries than all
the Venetian palaces together. Some qualify it as barbaric (!!) but most praise
it as a heavenly construction.  Built in
the 9th century to replace the chapel of the Doges Palace, to contain the
remains of San Marco, the basilica was mainly inspired by what was done best in
Byzantium. It's obvious (at least in my eyes) what the intentions of the Doges
were when they erected this jewel: confront the power of Venice to its suzerain
by enhancing the city with a monument, comparable to Saint-Sophia, the
impressive church that existed already in Constantinople (Byzantium at that
time). The city of the Doges had the meanings, money and skills and they wanted
everybody to know that as a fact. Venice enthrones its Doges, receives the Pope,
princes and ambassadors. Its here that all Oriental and European treasures are
assembled but also the lute of the crusades and other sackings.....In the Serenissima (like Venice is mostly named by its citizens), they had not much ethics at that time and honesty was not the predominant virtue. I'm talking about the "robbery" of San Marco's corpse in 
Alexandria by two Venetian merchants, Rustico and Buono in 828. These two
sinister traffickers did business with the "infidels" betraying their
home city, the very Christian, but as you all know, business is business, and
that didn't change much today!They returned to Venice and were received like heroes when they offered the sacred relics to the city. A church was built in 832 to guard the precious items. But during a revolt against the tyrannical Doge Pietro Candiano IV the church burned down and turned the relics into ash. Two years later another church was built but around the 11th century, when Venice has become adult 
and full grown, the former church was replaced by a third, bigger and wealthier
construction, the Basilica you see now, even if a lot of decorations were added
later. That's what explains the characteristic style melange and makes it unique
in its genre. But the lack of scruples is universal and the famous horses of San Marco, which were part of the lute of the third crusade, were stolen by Napoleon Bonaparte, to be exposed at the top of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. The treaty of Vienna in 1815gave the horses back to Venice. We can't blame the Venetians of being very careful in the two world wars when they hid the precious sculptures as long as the wars lasted. The ones you see today are copies (original were removed because of heavy pollution to the museum Marciano) If you want to visit the Basilica in a normal, leisurely step, it is impossible to do it in one day. What most people do is to make a few short visits to the Basilica, the best at different moments of the day, early morning, during a mass or when the church is lit. In the summertime, its unfortunate but you will have to share the visit with tourist groups. I know, you hate that, and I hate it too, but that's a burden to take.....But you could try your luck at 9.30 when the portals open or in the early evening, when the one-day tourists are gone. My intention is not to describe you the Basilica part by part in detail during the suite of my series. You have millions of guided doing that better than I can do. I will try to focus the most possible on unknown details, anecdotes and legends, guides usually don't have the time to tell you. See you at my newt post about the San Marco Basilica. Bibliography The Basilica of St. Mark in Venice, by G. Musolino, (1956), The Mosaics of San Marco in Venice by O.Demus (1988), Observations of Venice, by Thomas Coryat, The Companion guide to Venice, by Hugh Honour-Venice and its lagoon, by Giulio Lorenzetti, Venice-A thousand Years of Culture and Civilisation, by Peter Lauritzen-Heures Italiennes, by Henry James (La difference 1985)-The World of Venice, by Jan Morris, Venice: The Most Triumphant City , by George Bull, (1980) |
||