Venice 2021

ST MARK'S SQUARE. Iconic square & gathering place dating back to the 12th century & dominated by St. Mark's Basilica. St. Mark’s church, begun in 1063, was built on the foundations and with the walls of an earlier church also dedicated to the saint. The model for this new church, much larger than the former one, was the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Constantinople. The new structure was Greek cross with the longitudinal nave slightly longer than the transept limited by pre-existing buildings (the ancient castle to the south and the Church of St. Theodore to the north). The five great cupolas were erected at the intersection and over the arms of the cross. The architectonic layout is highly articulated and repeats a single module clearly identifiable in the central cupola which rests, by means of the spandrels and great vaults, on four pillars. Both arms of the cross are divided into nave and two aisles. The atrium with its cupolas was built a century after completion of the church. The baptistery was built onto the southern end of the church in the first half of the 14th century. Beneath the presbytery and the side chapels is the crypt (nave and two aisles with apse) housing the ancient chapel which for centuries has been the repository of St. Mark’s body.