Basilica di San Marco "by Night"
Night visit to the symbol of Venice, famous for its extraordinary golden mosaics
One of the most exciting experiences you can have in Venice is a private nighttime visit to St. Mark's Basilica, behind closed doors, when St. Mark's Square once again becomes a magical, silent stage suspended between East and West.
Originally the Doge’s private chapel, St. Mark’s Basilica is a marvelous synthesis of 1,000 years of history of the Republic of Venice, known as La Serenissima, and thus the supreme artistic expression of Roman, Byzantine, and Venetian culture over the centuries.
Its construction began in 1063, modeled after the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Constantinople. It was with its consecration in 1094, when the remains of St. Mark the Evangelist, stolen from Alexandria, Egypt, were placed with great prestige in the crypt beneath the High Altar, that the Basilica became the true emblem of Venice’s power.
The association between the lagoon city and the symbol of the Lion of St. Mark is also linked to the saint, who in Christian iconography was represented with this animal because, according to legend, it was an angel in the form of a winged lion who addressed him with the prophetic phrase: “Pax tibi Marce, evangelista meus. Hic requiescet corpus tuum” (“Peace be to you, Mark, my evangelist, here your body will rest”).
The night visit begins with a stroll outside the Basilica, starting to the south from what was its water gate. Here’s a first “secret”: the Basilica was once bordered by the Rio Batario—the Doge’s Palace was originally a veritable fortress completely surrounded by canals—which was later filled in in 1156.
To its right, the marvelous Porta della Carta stands out, between the Basilica and the Doge’s Palace. It is topped by a magnificent Winged Lion, which tells a painful story in Venice’s history. Like every other lion in the city, it was destroyed by Napoleon’s orders following the fall of the Serenissima in 1897, and then rebuilt in the late 19th century because, as everyone knows, “you can destroy stones but not erase their echoes.”
Another symbol of Venice, with a long history to tell, are the four winged horses in gilded and silvered bronze that crown the façade (actually copies; the originals, to protect them from the elements, are kept at the San Marco Museum). These horses once belonged to a triumphal quadriga placed at the entrance to the Hippodrome of Constantinople. They, like many other treasures in Piazza San Marco, were brought to Venice as spoils of war from the Crusades waged against the Byzantine Empire.
Continuing the circumnavigation of the façade, we enter the Basilica through the north door, passing through the atrium that leads to the imposing central nave, which welcomes us in complete darkness. This is where the real magic happens, as, little by little, surprising us, the lights, starting from the high altar, come on one by one with the rhythm of a theatrical script, revealing over 8,000 square meters of golden mosaics that envelop the viewer in a breathtaking golden glow.
The light reveals all the other treasures of the Basilica, from the four alabaster columns placed at the center of the most sacred space in the basilica, the ciborium containing the marble sarcophagus containing the body of Saint Mark, to the famous Pala d’Oro, located behind the altar, created in 978 by Greek goldsmiths. The marvelous artifact is part of what remains of the legendary Treasure of San Marco, today composed of 283 pieces of gold, silver and precious materials, miraculously escaped looting and sale, which are worth admiring one by one.
The tour ends with a descent into the Crypt, the heart of the Basilica, now the burial place of the Patriarchs of Venice, where so many more stories lie waiting to be told.
If Venice is “the greatest masterpiece that man has ever produced” (to quote Joseph Brodsky), St. Mark’s Basilica is undoubtedly its greatest treasure.
