Italy · 400 years of Basilica di San Marco in Venedig

St Mark’s Basilica (Markusdom) was not built as an ordinary parish church, but as a chapel of the Venetian doges. Its history is linked to the transfer of the relics of the Evangelist Mark from Alexandria to Venice in the 9th century. Mark became the city’s patron saint; his symbol, the winged lion, also developed into the emblem of the Republic of Venice. The church thus served both religious purposes and the political self-representation of the Venetian state.

The present church is already the third building on this site. Construction began in the 11th century, and it was consecrated in 1094. The floor plan in the form of a Greek cross and the five domes demonstrate the influence of Byzantine ecclesiastical architecture. This orientation reflected Venice’s close trade and cultural contacts with the eastern Mediterranean. Over several centuries, the building was expanded, clad and adorned with mosaics, columns, sculptures and precious furnishings. Its completion therefore does not denote a single construction project, but the conclusion of a long sequence of structural changes.

Numerous works arrived in Venice through trade, but also as a result of military campaigns. These include the ancient bronze horses, which were brought to Venice after the conquest of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade in 1204. The horses visible on the façade today are copies; the originals are kept inside. The golden altar screen, the Pala d’Oro, also points to the connections with Byzantine art.

San Marco was for centuries the setting for state ceremonies, processions and public services of the Republic. It was not until the early 19th century that the former doge’s chapel became the cathedral of the Patriarch of Venice. The choice of the anniversary for an Italian commemorative coin thus relates not only to the building’s history, but also to the role of the cathedral as a religious and political centre of the former maritime republic.