St. Mark's Basilica

After our gondola ride, we finally got to look around St. Mark's Square. Usually the Square is packed full of people, but it wasn't bad at all when we were there! Maybe it was because we went in the afternoon instead of the morning, or maybe it wasn't quite the highest point of tourist season yet, but it was really nice that it was not so crowded!

A side-view

An interesting feature of St. Mark's Basilica is its combination of different architectural styles. Its facade shows so many different cultures and architecture:
Arches over the doors - Roman style

Columns - Greek style - And notice that the marble does not match! I love that!

Mosaics - Byzantine style

Pinnacles along the roof line - French Gothic

Onion-shaped domes - Islamic style


The element that struck me the most about St. Mark's Basilica was how colorful it was. Just look at the bright colors in these pictures! After centuries, the colors are still incredibly vibrant!







This is one of the mosaics in the entry way, I guess you might call it. I don't know what story this mosaic tells, but we did see one that was about Noah's ark!

We walked through the inside of the Basilica, but we were not allowed to take pictures. The floor was beautiful; it had so many different designs in it. Mark of the New Testament is supposedly buried inside. It was neat for me to go inside because in the music history course that I teach, I teach that the architecture of this building, which has two choir lofts, led to composers writing in a polychoral style. This was a late Renaissance style that started in Venice and spread all throughout Europe, and it all happened just because of the architecture of this building!

After walking through the main floor, we went upstairs and looked at some artifacts from the Basilica. Some of my favorites were the HUGE books of music! There were 7 books on display. (And of course I enjoyed them!)

We did take one picture inside the Basilica. It was in this stairway on our way up to the museum, where we saw the music books and the artifacts.

We also saw the 4 bronze horses that have been stolen from one ruler or another time and time again when each ruler has been conquered. Here I am with the replicas that are outside where the originals used to stand. We saw the originals inside.

We had a great view of the Square.