For nearly a thousand years this was not the cathedral of Venice: it was the chapel of the doge (the elected ruler of the Venetian Republic), the temple of the State. Here the newly elected doge was consecrated, here the city gathered in its decisive hours — the peace between the Pope and Barbarossa in 1177, the departure of the Fourth Crusade in 1201, the fall of the Republic in 1797, the resurrection of 1848.
St Mark’s Basilica audio guide
What to see inside
- St Mark's Basilica — Main façade
- St Mark's Basilica — St Alipio's Portal
- St Mark's Basilica — The archivolts of the main portal
- St Mark's Basilica - The main door and the bronze doors
- St Mark's Basilica — The architect biting his finger
- St Mark's Basilica - The Labours of Hercules
- St Mark's Basilica — The façade mosaics
- St Mark's Basilica - The terrace and the four horses
- St Mark's Basilica — The Gothic crown
- St Mark's Basilica - Facade towards the Piazzetta
- St Mark's Basilica — The Pilastri Acritani
- St Mark's Basilica — The first inscription in dialect
- St Mark's Basilica — Façade towards San Basso
- St Mark's Basilica — Patere and reliefs of the north flank
- St Mark's Basilica — Alexander the Great ascending to heaven
- St Mark's Basilica — The Porta dei Fiori
- St Mark's Basilica - The tomb of Daniele Manin
- St Mark's Basilica — Atrium and Genesis domes
- St Mark's Basilica - The Slab of the Imperial Meeting
- St Mark's Basilica - The Dome of the Creation
- St Mark's Basilica — The thread of Abraham, Joseph and Moses
- St Mark's Basilica — Nave and Domes
- St Mark's Basilica — The floor: a sea of marble
- St Mark's Basilica — The Pentecost dome
- St Mark's Basilica — The dome of the Ascension
- St Mark's Basilica - The arch of the Passion
- St Mark's Basilica — The Dome of the Prophets
- St Mark's Basilica — The two transept domes
- St Mark's Basilica - The Finding of the Body
- St Mark's Basilica — North transept
- St Mark's Basilica — The Madonna Nicopeia
- St Mark's Basilica — The small altars of doge Moro
- St Mark's Basilica — The Capitello del Crocifisso
- St Mark's Basilica — The Madonna dello Schioppo
- Basilica di San Marco - Cappella dei Mascoli
- St Mark's Basilica - Mascoli Chapel - The vault mosaics
- St Mark's Basilica — Mascoli Chapel — The altar
- St Mark's Basilica — Chapel of St Isidore
- St Mark's Basilica — Chapel of Sant'Isidoro — The portal and the grille
- St Mark's Basilica — Chapel of St Isidore — The golden vault
- St Mark's Basilica — Chapel of St Isidore — The ark and the censing angel
- St Mark's Basilica - Presbytery and Pala d'Oro
- St Mark's Basilica — The iconostasis and the great cross
- St Mark's Basilica — Sansovino's tribunes
- St Mark's Basilica - The ciborium and the four columns
- St Mark's Basilica — The Pala d'Oro
- St Mark's Basilica - The doge's seat and the inlays
- St Mark's Basilica — The chapels of San Clemente and San Pietro
- St Mark's Basilica — The altar behind the Pala
- St Mark's Basilica — The sacristy and Sansovino's door
- St Mark's Basilica - The two amboni (pulpits)
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury — The Chair of St Mark
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury — The reliquary sanctuary
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury — The emperors' cups
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury — The four portable icons
- St Mark's Basilica — Treasury — The urn of Artaxerxes
- St Mark's Basilica — Museum and Loggia dei Cavalli
- St Mark's Basilica — Museum — The original horses
- St Mark's Basilica — Museum — The Loggia dei Cavalli
- St Mark's Basilica — Museum — The panel that covered the Pala
- St Mark's Basilica — Museum — The rooms of the mosaic masters
- St Mark's Basilica - Museum - Tapestries, fabrics and the doge's throne
- St Mark's Basilica — Baptistery and Zen Chapel
- St Mark's Basilica — Baptistery — Sansovino's font
- St Mark's Basilica — Baptistery — The tomb of Andrea Dandolo
- St Mark's Basilica — Baptistery — The mosaics
- St Mark's Basilica - Zen Chapel and the Madonna of the Shoe
- St Mark's Basilica - Crypt
- St Mark's Basilica — Crypt — Where St Mark rested
- St Mark's Basilica - Crypt - The Mascoli altar