San Marco (Venice, Italy) : Central portal, frontal view

Creator:

unknown (Italian)

Published/Created:

Venice, Veneto, Italy
begun ca. 1063

Physical Description:

28.5 m (height, central dome)

Date Depicted:

5/18/1996
500 AD - 1499 AD

Materials:

brick with marble facing

Notes:

Studies by the excavator, Forlati, indicate that S Marco was a centrally planned, Greek-cross building from the start. The present building was begun ca. 1063 under Doge Domenico Contarini (reg 1043-1071), who wished it to reflect the increased power and wealth of Venice. He preserved the earlier foundations and reused some of the outside walls and brickwork of the earlier building. It was consecrated in 1094. S Marco is built of brick with a marble facing. It is centrally planned, on a Greek cross, with an east-west axis of 76.5 m (including the later narthex), and has five hemispherical domes on pendentives, one at the centre and one on each of the four arms. The internal height of the central dome is 28.5 m. Venetian chroniclers state that Byzantine architects were summoned, again basing the church on the Holy Apostles (remodelled in the 9th century) at Constantinople. The origins of the architect have been much debated, but the building was probably a fusion of different regional ideas. The detached campanile (now 98.6 m high) seems to have been created from an ancient look-out tower, probably in the second half of the 12th century. The campanile collapsed in 1902 and was faithfully rebuilt in 1912.

Variant Titles:

Basilica di San Marco a Venezia
St. Mark's Basilica

Topics:

Architecture -- Italy -- 11th century -- (YVRC)
Architecture -- Italy -- 12th century -- (YVRC)

Period/Style:

Italo-Byzantine

Culture:

Italian

Accession Number:

1A2-I-VE-BSM-E1

Genre:

architecture (AAT)
churches: basilicas (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

architectural exteriors construction buildings; basilicas; buildings; religious buildings; churches; cathedrals

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Module Three

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
5/18/1996

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4152

OID:

10158340

PID:

digcoll:1790592