Essay - St. Mark's Basilica - an International Treasure It's A Given...

St. Mark's Basilica - An International Treasure

***** a given fact that countless great cathedrals, monasteries, and other holy places have been built over the ages as a testament to man's devotion ***** God. In point of even more practical fact, that ***** was often tempered and blended with a generous portion of servitude to one's feud*****l lord as well, with the unspoken incentive ***** one got to keep one's property, position, or ***** one's life if one gave good service... and if one did not, well, things may ***** go as well as one would hope!

***** St. ***** Basilica in Venice, Italy, may well have an additional distinction of its own not only as a sign of devotion ***** *****, but ***** ***** edifice that st*****s uniquely in itself as a visual means of atonement for sin, an ef*****t at retribution for what might ***** be termed a "divine crime "...

***** exploring th*****t story may be putting the pr*****bial cart be*****e the horse. First, let's get a bit of the l*****y of the l*****d for the environs of San Marco itself.

Lay of the land" is indeed an apt phrase when one describes St. Mark's Basilica, since the church is in fact a major architectural and historical "anchor" ***** the city, located as it is adjacent to the Residence of the Doge (***** duke, or ma***** patriarch, of Venice and Genoa), ***** well as its focus ***** the central Piazza in the *****. Modeled after the original Church of the Holy Apostles in Constant*****ople (536-46), the basilica as it stands ********** is actually the third ***** erected on the present site. Its first incarnation came about in 828, when its construction (by unknown architects) was ordered by Doge Giustiniano Partecipazio to commemorate the interment ***** ***** body of the evangelist Mark. After a fire in 976, ***** church was rebuilt, then added ***** and expanded *****ly ***** the latter half of the 11th century (although retaining much of the ***** foundation and masonry). Although different consecration dates appear in history for this church from 832 (http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/database/*****es/marcobas.html)to1094(http://www.venetia.it/m_basil.ita.htm),ithasbeen ***** *****al seat and cathedral of the city only since 1807, ***** it replaced ***** former ***** of San Pietro di Castello.

***** church ********** is built in the shape of a Greek cross, with each arm consisting ***** three aisles separated from one an***** ***** round arches upon marble columns, and five large domes held up by massive pillars (http://library.thinkquest.org/18778/st.htm).Althoughreflectinga wide variety of architectural styles the present-day ***** is a mixture of Byz*****ntine, Gothic, Renaissance, and Moorish because ***** its changes ***** additions over the centuries, the church's origins remain primarily Byzantine, ***** heavy influences from the Orient. Its exterior is decorated with marble brought back after the Venetian conquest of Constantinople in 1204 (http://www.worldtouristattractions.travel-guides.com/attractions/smb/smb.asp),andsomeof the pillars are even reputed to have been conveyed to Venice ***** the original temple of Solomon.

Also brought back to Venice at the time of the Fourth Crusade were the four famous bronze horses