History of St. Mark's Basilica

The "History of St. Mark's Basilica" revolves around the translatio, during which two Venetian merchants transported Saint Mark's body from Alexandria, Egypt, to Venice in 828/829. Various medieval chronicles recount this event. According to the Chronicon Venetum, before the construction of the Doge's Palace on the site of the castrum, Saint Mark's relics resided in a corner tower of the castrum. Doge Giustiniano Participazio, who reigned from 827 to 828, left instructions in his will for his widow and his younger brother and successor Giovanni to construct a cathedral dedicated to Saint Mark to house his remains. As per Giustiniano's plan, the new church was to be situated between the Church of Saint Theodore and the Castrum, to the north. The relocation of Saint Mark's remains to the new church possibly took place as early as 836, within Giustinian's lifetime.

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The angry mob that rebelled against Doge Pietro IV Candiano, who ruled from 959 to 976, set fire to the castrum to oust him from power in 976. The flames reached the nearby church, the Participazio, and caused severe damage. The building was not destroyed, but it was so badly affected that Candiano’s successor, Pietro I Orseolo, who reigned 976-978, had to be chosen in the San Pietro di Castello cathedral. The church was restored two years later by the family’s own funds, indicating that the damage was minor at first. The walls and supports were likely intact, but the wooden parts had perished. This is part of the history of St. Mark’s Basilica.

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It was during the middle of the eleventh century that several Italian cities, anxious to flaunt their burgeoning commercial wealth and authority, began building or restoring their cathedrals on a magnificent scale. The history of St Mark's Basilica has it that it was also extensively renovated and enlarged under the reign of Doge Domenico I Contarini (1043-1071), making the church look like a completely different structure. By absorbing the southern lateral nave of Saint Theodore's Church, the northern transept was prolonged. The crypt was also increased to the east, and the high altar was relocated from under the central dome to the elevated chancel, which was maintained by a structure of columns and vaults in the underneath crypt.

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The original design for the Contarini church called for a very serious brick edifice. Only the arcade columns, gallery balustrades and parapets, and lattice altar screens were decorated on the inside. The history of St Mark's Basilica states that walls were embellished with niches, a few cornices, and molded arches that were interspersed with engaged brickwork columns. The western facade has a similar pattern of arches and projecting pillars to medieval Byzantine churches built in the 10 and eleventh centuries. Windows were cut into the walls at bigger blind angles, and the pillars in between were decorated with niches and round patere constructed of precious marble and stones and framed in decorative molding. Corbel tables and friezes were among the other ornamental elements that followed Romanesque fashion, demonstrating the workers' skilled taste.

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According to the history of St Mark's Basilica, there were originally more windows in the st mark's church than the sixteen in each of the five domes, with three or seven in the apse and perhaps eight in each of the lunettes. However, many of these windows were closed up in order to provide more room for the mosaic artwork. As built, the Contarini church's narthex was only accessible from the west. The northernmost niche is all that's left of the original Byzantine church's lateral extension beyond the façade. The original brick domes of Byzantine churches were covered with bigger outer shells in the thirteenth century's first half, and these shells supported bulbous lights ornamented with crosses.

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