San Marco: An Alien in Venice

And the Doge said to them that they had done ill in that they had asked, through their messengers, that the Venetians should make ready a fleet for four thousand knights and their accruements and for an hundred thousand foot; whereas, of these knights, there were scarce more than a thousand, since the rest had gone to other harbours, and of these hundred thousand footmen, there were scarce more than fifty or sixty thousand. "Wherefore we desire," said the Doge, "that ye pay us the sums promised, which were afreed upon with us."

The 4th Crusade and its ultimate result, the sack of Constantinople, was documented by Robert de Clari - a lower level knight in the crusade, and these are part of his description of the events in his own words. As trivial and petty as the description of the events are, the whole adventure resulted in a major shift of power in the Western world. More specifically, it was a significant blow to Constantinople's power and a means of shifting the power it had held since the fall of Western Roman Empire back to the Italian peninsula - more accurately, to Venice.

 

The 4th Crusade, lasting between 1202 and 1204, did not only shift power, but it also moved vast amounts of wealth, in the form of money and priceless artwork alike, across the eastern Mediterranean. Originally meant to reconquer Jerusalem, the crusade devolved into the looting of one of the most magnificient cities of its time - Constantinople. The transfer of wealth helped change an already flourishing Adriatic town and propel it into the list of world powers. It paved the way for Venice to become what it is now - the most wealthy region of a country that is rightly proud of its art and architecture. And one of the most easily recognizable outcomes of this transformation has been the religious heart of Venice, the San Marco Cathedral.

Known as the Basilica Cattedrale Patriarcale di San Marco (Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark), the San Marco is the cathedral of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice since 1807, and easily the most well-known of the city's churches. It is also a rather unique piece of architecture in that it combines elements of Byzantian and Italian architectural forms. A more colloquial name - Chiesa di Oro (Church of Gold) - is also used when referring to the church, with regard to its opulent mosaics in gold. Located at the edge of the Piazza San Marco, and connected to the Doge's Palace - as it had once served as the chapel of the Doge himself  (the title "doge" is a variant of the title "duke", given to the chief magistrate of Venice).

There is evidence that an earlier church had been built at the same location between 828 and 832 by orders from the doge of the time. This construction was commissioned after a fleet of Venetian merchants stole relics of Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria in Egypt and a church to store the relics was needed. This church was burned down in a rebellion in 976, and rebuilt two years later. No architectural details pertaining to these two earlier churches are known.

The current cathedral was - probably - commissioned from 1073 onwards, although an exact date cannot be given. The year 1093 is frequently mentioned as the date of consecration, although other possible alternatives including 1084, 1102 and 1117 are also suggested. A specific date cannot be, however, given for the completion of the cathedral, as it is now known that the structure has evolved - both structurally and decoratively - over time, and still continues to do so today.

The influence of Byzantium on the architecture and the decoration of the church is evident. The basic floor plan of the church is of a Greek cross form (the western dome is larger that the others, based on Constantine's Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople), and this shape has not changed significantly throughout history. The golden mosaics that give the building its nickname were also heavily influenced by Byzantian art, thanks to mosaic workshops started by artisans that probably moved to the city from Constantinople. However, as Italian renaissance flourished in Italy, the influence of Byzantium in art and architecture declined, and so the building evolved in a more Italianate way and future additions bear witness to this fact. For example, the original domes were covered with lead covered wood domes to match with the nearby Doge's Palace built in Italian Gothic style.

Although the influence of Byzantium on the actual architecture of the building waned through time, the sack of Constantinople can be considered the single most important influence on the church. San Marco would not have been what it is now had the fourth crusade never happened. Many spoils from the sack ended up adorning the cathedral; columns, column capitals, friezes, statues alike all were brought over from Constantinople to decorate the church - in fact the original building, made of brick, was eventually covered with white marble from Byzantium that resulted in the current look of the structure.

The mosaics adorning the building, like in most churches, take their cues from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, particularly Genesis and the lives of Noah, Abraham, Moses and Joseph. The compositions in these mosaics strongly resemble those pictured in a Greek manuscript called the Cotton Genesis, itself assumed to have reached Venice after the fourth crusade.

Two significant additions to the building that came by way of the sack of Constantinople are the statue of Horses of San Marco and the statue of the Tetrarchs. Horses of San Marco were placed at the church around 1254, being removed from the Hippodrome of Constantinople during the fourth crusade. This statue is claimed to have originally adorned the Arch of Trajan in Rome, from where it had been moved to Constantinople, although this is not certain. The actual statue is in fact a replica, the original being located in St. Mark's Museum within the basilica. The other famous piece of sculpture, the statue of the Tetrarchs, was also looted from Constantinople and brought to the basilica around the same time.

 

In terms of function, the church also did evolve - originally serving as the private chapel of the Doge, the San Marco eventually became the state church (a crown it carried until 1807, shortly after Venetian Republic dissolved and Venice became part of Austrian territory). After this date, the cathedral assumed a patriarchal role, housing the Patriarch of Venice. The cathedral was administered, throughout its history, by the procurators of Venetian Republic, as with most major Venetian buildings; this title indeed exists to this very day.

Venice was a merchant, warrior republic. It rose to power through the weakness of other nations. This is more evident than anywhere else in the dazzling golden beauty of San Marco; an elaborate, intricate amalgam of Byzantian and Italian art showing us once again that architecture is in perpetual continuity.