Lonely Planet). The land that these Romans inhabited was a swampy marshland with numerous islands and was later named Venice (Venice, Lonely Planet). Forced into this foreign land, settlers constructed an elaborately designed city that lies on the Adriatic Sea. The surrounding geographical features of the land around Venice allowed the city to develop peacefully and without very much outside influence. Contrary to actual historical documentation, Venetians the founding of the city to the precise date of March 25, 421 (History of Venice, Venezia). March 25, 421 is the date of the Annunciation, when the angel Gabriel brought the news to the Virgin Mary that she would bear a child, Jesus (History of Venice, Venezia). Essentially, Venetians used this fabricated history to assert themselves as superior to other cities (Abbott). Originally, Venice accepted St. Theodore as its patron saint. However, Venetians believed that St. Theodore was not a significant enough figure to represent their great city, so Venice changed its patron saint to St. Mark (Abbott). Furthermore, Venetians “documented” the relationship between St. Mark and the city of Venice in numerous pieces of artwork (Abbott). In 1172, a column topped with a statue of the Lion of St. Mark was even erected to stand at the entrance to the city along the Adriatic Sea and between the Doge’s Palace and the Basilica di San Marco (Abbott). Venice’s attachment to St. Mark grew strong after a group of Venetian merchants removed the deceased body of St. Mark from Alexandria in 828 (Abbott). In 829, shortly after the Venetian merchants acquired the relics of St. Mark from Alexandria and brought them to Venice, architects built the Basilica di San Marco (San Marco Basilica, Encyclopedia Britannica). The Basilica di San Marco was built on the
Throughout its existence, the Basilica di San Marco has gained numerous works of art. Some of the most significant works are the numerous mosaics accumulated over time. The mosaics are constructed with small, individual pieces of glass called tesserae (Abbott). These tesserae are placed at slightly different angles and depths, which causes light to reflect off each individual tessera differently (Abbott). Because many of the mosaics of the Basilica di San Marco are crafted using gold tesserae, the interior of the Basilica di San Marco has a shimmering gold appeal (Abbott). More important than the style of the art and architecture of the Basilica di San Marco is its symbolic importance to the city of Venice. It was a setting for numerous ceremonies such as the Feast of the Annunciation, on which the doge would throw a gold ring into the Adriatic Sea (just outside of the Basilica di San Marco) to symbolize Venice’s “marriage” to the sea (Rosand, Myths of Venice 1, 37). Another important symbol that the art reveals is the concept of Venetian idealism represented by the art’s documentation of fictitious events (Abbott). Along with ceremonial and historical importance, the documentation of the fabricated history of Venice is also an extremely essential part of the Basilica di San Marco. The Basilica di San Marco stands in the center of the Venice as symbol of St. Mark. The building itself symbolizes Venice’s ties to St. Mark. However, aside from the removal of the relics of St. Mark, there is actually no historical evidence that supports St. Mark connection to Venice. Thus, the building itself and the art within the Basilica di San Marco simply preserve the notion of the Venetian republic that St. Mark belongs to Venice.