St. Mark's Basilica

I guess I better get caught up on my posts seeing as we are leaving Rome tomorrow and I haven't even finished with Venice!  

St. Mark's Basilica is one of the most popular attractions in Venice.  As I have previously mentioned, St. Mark is Venice's patron saint and they take their religion very seriously.  While this cathedral underwent many changes when it was first being constructed, the main structure of the church is from the 11th century and it has been added to throughout the centuries.  It is a stunning combination of Byzantine and Gothic architecture.....ask Ben and Chris what that means some time. :)

St. Mark's has 5 domes.

I loved this altar screen and the canopy on the high altar ~ the woodworking was amazing!

There was a service going on in a chapel in the church while we were there.  Seemed strange for the priest to keep his back to the people the whole time...they are pretty "old school" at St. Mark's.

That is a real rifle next to Mary.  People used to bring gifts of thanks to Mary when they prayed to her and felt their prayers were answered.  The rifle was given by a woman who's husband survived a war.

The walls and ceilings are covered in the most amazing mosiacs ~ not sure if you can tell in this picture but all of the gold is mosaic.

I am always enamored with the marble floors in all these old buildings we are seeing ~ St. Mark's was especially pretty ~ the entire floor of the church was marble inlay ~ all different patterns.  This will NOT be the last picture of the floor that you will see on this blog while we are in Italy. :)

This mosaic was out in the atrium/entryway.  They all tell stories ~ this one is the Creation story and Adam and Eve.

Noah's Ark

There was an upper level, which we, of course, had to go to.  It gave you a spectacular view of the whole basilica.

This picture of the belltower is taken from the outdoor terrace.  Climbing it is a popular activity for tourists but it is always packed so we chose to climb a different belltower (with no lines) to get OUR aerial view of Venice.  The Horses of St. Mark, seen here and in the picture below have been around, though these are actually replicas, with the originals being kept in a muesum.  The originals were Greek, spent time in Constantinople before being brought to Venice.  Napoleon took the to Paris for awhile until they were returned to Venice in 1815.  They are pretty stunning both up close and from a distance.

The museum within St. Mark's had some beautiful mosaics in it ~ I loved this one of John the Baptist.

This is a famous one called The Jesse Tree.  It took up a whole wall!

Piazza San Marco, the square in front of St. Mark's is a happening place to be.  There are several cafes with outdoor seating that have orchestras playing ~ you can sit and listen to the battle of the bands.

And, of course, my boys cannot pass up an opportunity to have animals eating out of their hands (or off of their heads).  They were fun to watch ~ Chris had a lot of fun with it, and Ben was very serious about what he was doing.

I even got in on the action, though as you can see, I was not too crazy about the one on my head.

Thank you to those of you who have emailed me about my last post regarding our adventures with Chris.  My sister Sue asked me today whether or not Chris seems to be sticking closer to us since it happened, and actually the answer is no ~ I really haven't seen any change in him.  And don't get me wrong, I am SO glad he is not fearful because of what happened.  It is just amazing to me that the same event can impact ME so profoundly, and yet barely be a blip on his radar....though with Chris, you never know quite what is really going on in that noggin of his.   I think it is a good reminder to all of us to stick together and be comfortable but not TOO comfortable. :)