ST. MARK'S BASILICA
THE EXTERIOR
The main façade, originally finished
in unfaced brick, was subsequently decorated with marble
and columns brought from Constantinople (Byzantium) when
the city was conquered by Venetian forces in 1204, during
the IV Crusade.
The mosaics in the arches of the upper order and in the
lunettes over four of the doors are all seventeenth
century reworkings of XIII cent. mosaics (with the
exception of the first on the left, the only original
work, and the second, which dates from ca. 1730).
The three splayed arches around the central doorway are
decorated with fine carvings. The XIII cent. Venetian
sculpture shows both eastern and western influences (the
latter from Padua and France) and there is a discernible
development of style between the inner and outer arches.
On the balcony above the main doorway stand copies of the
four horses (the originals are inside the church) which
were brought to Venice from the hippodrome in
Constantinople and placed in their present position in
the second half of the XIII cent., a potent symbol of
Venice's view of itself as the heir of the great
imperials capitals: Rome (the Western Empire) and
Byzantium (the New Rome, capital of the Eastern Empire).
On the façade facing the water, St.Mark's Basin, there
was once an entrance, the Porta da mar, giving access
straight from the wharves beside the Palazzo Ducale.
