St. Mark's Basilica

Also known as Basilica di San Marco

St. Mark's Basilica is the cathedral church of Venice, built from 1063 on the site of an earlier 9th-century church, and it holds a unique position in European ecclesiastical architecture: it is Byzantine in style, not Romanesque or Gothic, because Venice looked east toward Constantinople rather than toward Rome when it built its defining institution.

St. Mark’s Basilica at Piazza San Marco is the cathedral of Venice, built from 1063 in Byzantine style with five gold-mosaic domes, a design that reflects Venice’s orientation toward Constantinople rather than Rome. The interior has approximately 8,000 square meters of gold mosaics. The four bronze horses on the main facade are ancient originals (copies now stand outside; originals are inside the museum) seized from Constantinople in 1204. Book a timed entry slot at venetoinside.com to skip the queue. Bags larger than a small daypack must be left at a deposit point outside.