St Mark's Basilica is a sublime mix of Byzantine, Gothic and Renaissance architecture, standing majestically on St Mark's Square. Inside shimmers with golden mosaics while the Pala d'Oro altarpiece drips with 2000 precious stones. Climb the belltower for city views.
The Basilica was built to house the body of St Mark the Evangelist, stolen in 828 AD from Alexandria in Egypt and brought back to the Doge Giustiniano Participazio.
The facade features five portals decorated in splendid marbles and mosaics, with a terrace dividing it into two halves. On the terrace stand Four Horses of gilded copper (copies - the originals are now preserved inside) that were sent from Constantinople to Doge Enrico Dandolo in 1204.
The imposing interior (in the form of a Greek cross) contains a wealth of paintings and sculptures. Of particular interest are the mosaics of Veneto-Byzantine, some of them reconstructed from drawings by Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. St Mark's body is contained in a sarcophagus beneath the altar. The belltower adjacent to the Basilica was once a lighthouse for ships and now offers the best aerial views of Venice.