Saint Mark's and the Doge's Palace

If you ever try to make the argument that the church is not made of money, I will call you a liar to your face.  The Church of Saint Mark is an amazing testament to exactly what money can do.  There are no frescoes here, no oil masterpieces, instead, mosaics back with pure gold leaf and altar pieces littered with gemstones.  I wasn't allowed to take pictures, so I've pulled some from the web...believe me...it's worth it.

So much gold...so much beauty!

Each mosaic tells a story...back in the day, most people could not read or write, so artisans told them the stories through their art.  

This is the most amazing thing.  Almost 10 feet wide and over 6 feet tall.  Gold.  Jewels.  God.

Called the Pala d’Oro, it is a masterpiece of Byzantine craftsmanship, It incorporates 1,300 pearls, 300 sapphires, 300 emeralds, and 400 garnets.

Here's one of the panels...just one!

So, my favorite story our guide told us today was exactly how St. Mark's came to be.  Back 828, someone found some documents that suggested that Mark (of Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John) might actually have met Christ at his mother's house when he, Mark, was about 10 years old.  This was enough to give the Doge a reason to create a church in his legacy.  The Doge sent some ambassadors to Alexandria in search of Mark's remains.  Sure enough, they found them, stole them and brought them back to Venice.  The TSA agents of the time were Muslim, and, at the border, they were examining all the luggage.  The Doge's ambassadors had hidden Mark's remains in a basket, but covered them with pig skins and entrails.  Of course, the Muslims - who shun pork - were not inclined to search further after the lid of the basket was removed, so they waved the ambassadors (and Mark's remains) through.  At the front of the basilica, there is a mosaic portraying the "These are not the droids/remains you're looking for" story.

From there, we went to the Doge's palace.  The Doge of Venice was sort of the president/ruler of the state of Venice - the senior-most elected official of the state.  Usually a noble, but sometimes a common man.  Doges ruled Venice from 697 until 1797...then they essentially lost all their power to the Austrians, Napoleon, Austria...it basically sucked to be Venice for a while.  Even when Venice eventually became a republic, it just never adopted the Doge system again.  

BUT...the palace in Venice is a sight to behold.  From the administrative offices, to the rooms of state, to the courts (local, appellate & supreme - il consiglio dei diece - council of ten) and prison.  Every ceiling is a masterpiece.  Every staircase, an opportunity for the Doge to show off to his power.  Every cell, a sad and desolate sentence.  Every window a chance to escape (see Casanova).  Here are a few pics, but sadly the do no justice.

This is the courtyard of the palace.  All of this looks like every Doge decided to build something in front of something else.  It's all beautiful, but sort of a hodge podge. 

  

While you were on your way to see the Doge, you had to pass through several rooms and up two staircases - all decorated to impress and intimidate.

All this is gold and marble.

Yeah, I love me a good ceiling!

This is in the waiting room.

Above the door as you enter the Doge's rooms of state.

So, Doge's were elected for life, and all lived out their terms happily - except for one.  He was caught with his hand in the cookie jar and exiled.  After quite some time (and some good deeds on his part, as well as some major monetary donations to the state) he was allowed to return to Venice, but he could not serve the public anymore.  See the blacked out frame...that was him.   Essentially blackballed/black listed.

So ornate and unbelievably gorgeous.

Okay - this is really hard, to see, and maybe you can see better online.  This is Tintoretto's masterpiece, Paradise, and it hangs over the Doge's throne. It is the largest oil painting in the world, approximately 72 feet by 22 feet. It's basically Christ and Mary, surrounded by a heavenly host of 500 saints. Huge and really hard to make any sense of.

I also love me a good floor.  This is the floor an accused criminal had to stand on before the local magistrate (or court officer).  If he looked up he was in awe of the gold and gilt.  If he looked down, he was confounded by the 3-d optical illusion of the marble.  Best if he just look at the magistrate.

After our Palace tour, we went on a "Secret Passages" tour...unfortunately it sounds much more fun than it actually was. The highlight was hearing about Casanova's daring escape. Read Dan Brown's Inferno...I like that description (although mostly fictionalized) better than the tour we took. eh...

We spent the afternoon eating, shopping and drinking (what fun!), and, for whatever reason, decided to go find the Rialto bridge. Sure it's famous and pretty...but OMG the tourists. Everyone pushing, elbowing their way with their selfie sticks, jostling for the perfect spot. WTF!!! Of course...if you're on the bridge how can you possibly take a picture OF the bridge???

So we extricated ourselves from the masses and found a perfectly good spot for a pic. Time for a beer!!!

Back to St. Mark's Square for a lovely evening walk.

Tomorrow is a lazy day...yay!!!