St. Mark's Basilica Architecture

As far as St. Mark's Basilica architecture is concerned it’s front has two distinct levels. Five highly recessed portals alternate with huge piers on the western façade's lower register. Two levels of valuable columns, primarily loot from the Fourth Crusade, were eventually used to cover the entire bottom register. In keeping with Byzantine customs, the sculpture is mostly ornamental, serving solely to highlight the arches that enclose the doors. Narrow Romanesque bands, statues, and finely carved borders of foliage combine with figures inspired by Byzantine and Islamic traditions to make up the very restricted sculpture on the lower level, which complements the reliefs in the spandrels. The tympana over the two outermost portals, one north, and one south, are the most affected by the orientation of the sun.

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St. Mark's Basilica architecture comprises three symmetrical facades that radiate out from its lower body in the directions of north, south, and west. The well-known Porta dei Fiori, also known as the "Door of Flowers," is a relief of the Nativity from the 13th century that can be found on the north facade, which faces Piazzetta dei Leoncini.

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A pair of ornate pillars known as the Pilastri Acritani stands in front of the building's southern front, which faces the Grand Canal. Porphyry sculptures of the Tetrarchy stand at this facade's corner, and a truncated Porphyry column known as Pietra del Bando also stands there. Rare marbles, treasures, and trophies adorn the southern façade, contributing to the ornate St. Mark's Basilica architecture. These include the so-called pillars of Acre, a monument of the four tetrarchs; set into the exterior wall of the treasury, and a porphyry imperial head perched on the balcony's south-western corner.

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Gothic in style, the altar screen dates back to 1394 and completely encloses the chancel. It features statues of the Virgin Mary and Saint Mark, as well as the Twelve Apostles, with a silver and bronze Crucifix at its summit. The area that would be the external aisles in the other cross arms is instead occupied by the two choir chapels, one on either side of the chancel. These arches not only link the chancel to the nave, but they also help to support the dome overhead by providing additional barrel vaults. Saint Peter is honored at the northernmost choir chapel. Throughout history, this has been the primary location for the clergy and an important part of St. Mark's Basilica interior. The events of Saint Mark's life, including the translatio, are shown in mosaics that decorate the vaults above the chapels. These artifacts are the earliest known record of the relocation of Saint Mark's remains to Venice.

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The faithful generally visited the transept's side altars. The original altar, located in the northern crossarm, was dedicated to John the Evangelist; the mosaics in the dome above depict the saint as an old man, surrounded by five vignettes from his life in Ephesus. St. John the Baptist's stone relief, installed on the crossarm's eastern wall in the 13th century. When the altar was finally committed in 1617 to the Madonna Nicopeia, a celebrated Byzantine image from the late eleventh/early twelfth century, it was likely then that the icon was relocated to its current location on the church's northern façade.

From 1348 to 1355, the Chapel of Saint Isidore was built in Venice to contain the relics of Saint Isidore of Chios, which had been forgotten for centuries after being delivered to the city by Doge Domenico Michiel from 1117 to 1130 upon his return from a military mission in the Aegean. In the liturgical calendar of Venice, the 16th of April was also designated as an annual feast. The Mascoli Chapel was dedicated in 1430 and decorated during the reign of Doge Francesco Foscari (1423-1457). The eponymous confraternity began using it in 1618.

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Baptistery, being an intrinsic part of St. Mark's Basilica interior was built during the reign of Doge Giovanni Soranzo, who reigned from 1312 to 1328 and whose grave may be found within the building. Doge Andrea Dandolo, who paid for the baptistery's elaborate ornamentation himself, is also buried there. Both the life of Saint John the Baptist and the infancy of Christ are depicted in the mosaics that adorn the walls of the ante-baptistery and the baptistery proper. Sansovino's bronze font stands in the center of the dome, and above it are several representations of the Apostles performing the sacrament of baptism for persons of different ethnicities, a homage to Christ's command to spread the Gospel to all nations.

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As the consulting architect and works manager, Giorgio Spavento created a new sacristy in 1486 that was linked to the choir chapel and the presbytery of Saint Peter. The original sacristy's whereabouts are unknown. Spavento's lone completed project also happened to be his first. It all started decorating in 1493. Antonio della Mola and his brother Paolo inlaid the cabinets used to store reliquaries, monstrances, vestments, as well as other liturgical artifacts and books, with scenes from the life of Saint Mark. Titian conceived of and oversaw the creation of the Old Testament prophet mosaics that adorn the vault of the dome, which were installed between 1524 and 1530.

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Each of the five basilica domes constructed at the intersection and above the arms of the Greek cross has a diameter of nearly 13 meters and 16 windows. The gold mosaics inside the domes date to somewhere between 1160 and 1200 and literally enliven the St. Mark's Basilica architecture. The center dome represents Christ's ascension into heaven after his resurrection. Although the dome's iconography has some Western influence, the primary style is unmistakably Byzantine, representing Venice's powerful and lucrative trade ties to the Eastern Roman Empire.

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