Basilica Di San Marco

Lonely Planet review

The Basilica di San Marco is at once a remarkable place of worship and a singular declaration of commercial-imperial might. Building work on the first chapel to honour the freshly arrived corpse of St Mark began in 828, but the result disappeared in a fire in 932. The next version was demolished when, in 1063, Doge Domenico Contarini decided it was poor in comparison to grander Romanesque churches in mainland cities.

The new basilica, built on a Greek cross plan with five bulbous domes, was modelled on Constantinople's Church of the Twelve Apostles (later destroyed) and consecrated in 1094. It was built as the private ducal chapel and was only made Venice's cathedral in 1807. But no-one was in any doubt that this was the city's principal church. Thus symbolically tied to the power of the doge (leader, duke), this state of affairs was an eloquent expression of the uncomfortable position of the Church in Venice, which had no intention of subordinating state interests to the Church.

For more than 500 years, the dogi enlarged and embellished the basilica, adorning it with an incredible array of treasures plundered from the East, in particular Constantinople, during the Crusades.