Churches Galore

The Venetians were either very pious or very sinful, because they put churches everywhere. If you read one of my previous posts, I mentioned how beautiful the church of San Nicolo was on the inside. Well, I am finding out that they are all like that! Decorated to the rafters with paintings, sculptures, carvings, mosiacs, and every other type of art you can think of. You walk in and your jaw drops at the beauty.

Photography is forbidden in churches, and I have actually walked into a couple while there was a service going on. So I don't have photos of them. But I did take photos inside St. Mark's. It's forbidden there, too, but everyone was doing it.

St. Mark's Basilica in on Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) and was begun in 1063. It's the largest church in Venice, and it's full of treasures that were stolen (including St. Mark's remains) during Venice's glory days. It's free to go in. The entire ceiling and most of the walls from end to end is covered in mosaics -- 4,7590 square yards of it, according to my guidebook.

Inside St. Mark's Basilica.

The mosaics tell stories of Christ, like the last supper, the crucifixion, his ascension, etc. There are also mosaics of Noah's Ark, the gospels, the apostles, and more.

A mosaic close up.

Upstairs there is a balcony with a small museum. In the old days, women were forced to worship from the balcony while the men worshiped from the floor.

The museum houses La Quadriga, The Bronze Horses. No one knows how old they are, but the guess is somewhere between the fourth century B.C. and the fourth century A.D. And the were stolen by the Venetians from Constantinople.

The Bronze Horses (La Quadriga).

From the balcony you can also go outside where there is a fantastic view of the square. The doge of Venice used to stand there and address the people, probably telling them how rich and awesome he/they were.

I am rich and awesome!

I also went to the Correr Museum, just across the square from the basilica. Unless you're an art historian or know who the Bellinis were, I recommend skipping it.

After all that excitement, I hit the shops. FYI, Diesel is just as expensive here, but that didn't stop me from buying it. I also got a new swimsuit for when I hit the Lido this weekend.

In school, we practiced a bit of conversation -- how to say where we are from, how old we are, our jobs, etc. We also learned about masculine vs. feminine words and how to make plurals. Also, in Italian you can speak formally (Lei) or informally (tu), so we are getting a bit of that too.