Travel Reports

The Doge Palace and the Church of St. Mark in Venice, Italy – masterpieces of Venetian architecture

April 2, 2008 on 11:22 am | In Venice |

The Doge Palace incorporates the whole glorious history of the Venetian Republic. Little is known about its origins and architects. It is assumed that the Doges Angelo Partecipazio und Giustianio Partecipazio made this magnificent palace the Doges´ headquarter and official residence towards the end of the 9th Century. No evidence has remained from the original construction.

 

 

 

 

In its present form the palace largely dates back to 1340. The architects Filippo Calendario and Pietro Baseio were charged with its construction.

 

The facade to the lagoon was built between 1400 and 1404, whereas the section facing the Piazzetta was completed in 1424. Most of the Late Gothic facade sculptures were created by Venetian marble craftsmen and Florentine and Lombard artists. The beautiful palace fascinates the visitor with the incomparable elegance of its Gothic arcades.

 

In 1577 a fire destroyed one of the side wings of the palace. Antonio da Ponte, the architect of the Rialto Bridge, was charged with the reconstruction of the Doge Palace and rebuilt it in its previous form.

 

 

In 828 the Doges Angelo Partecipazio und Giustianio Partecipazio ordered the construction of the Cathedral of Venice. It was built to house the relics of the patron saint of Venice, Saint Mark the Evangelist, whose remains had recently been brought from Alexandria by Venetian merchants. Construction of the Church of St. Mark began in 829 in Venice’s main square, the Piazza San Marco, next to the north wing of the Doge’s Palace, and was completed in 883. In 967 the Doge Palace and the Church of St. Mark were destroyed by a fire during an insurgence against the tyrannical Doge Pietro Candiano IV. The Church of St. Mark was reconstructed by the Doge Pietro Orseolo.

 

 

Under the impression of the contemporary beautiful Romantic architecture of churches in mainland Europe, the Doge Domenico Contarini declared the architecture of the original building of the Church of St. Mark as outdated and had the church rebuilt to its present form. Reconstrution of the church began in 1063 and was completed in 1073.

 

The design was inspired by the architecture of Byzantine cross-domed churches and based on the Church of the Holy Apostles in Constantinople. Its facade and arches were decorated with mosaics featuring biblical scenes, Romanesque carvings, sculptures and Roman and Oriental marble, thereby fundamentally changing the former austere and sober facade of the St. Marks Basilica.

 

 

Besides the breathtaking interior design with its three naves, colums, walls and marble flors and richly decorated five copulas the basilica also impresses the visitor with the Marciano Museum. Here, ancient manuscripts, mosaics, sculptures and tapestries are exhibited.

 

Many of the treasures, sculptures and statues used for the decoration of the exterior facade and displayed in the basilica such as the high altar („Pala d’Oro“), the icon of the Madonna di Nicopeia and the marble tablets were plundered from Constantinople by Venetian crusaders in 1204 or  looted from greek cities.

 

For centuries, Venetian merchants and military leaders brought treasures to Venice from many countries to further refurbish the „Golden Basilica“, thereby mixing the most different architectural and stylistical elements ranging from Byzantine art to Gothic style and from Islamic architecture to Renaissance design into the harmonic dreamlike splendor of the Church of St. Mark in its present form.

 

 

Written by: Markus Mross. If you are interested in Venice apartments of flats Venice, please visit also http://www.interdomizil.com/italy-villas/villas-italy.htm.

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