Last Sunday we decided to have a visit at the Museum of Basilica di San Marco, and I have to confess you (it’s shameful, I know it 🙂 ) that it was my first time!
We went there at 13 am in order to avoid the crowd, and we were lucky…we entered immediately.
The first thing you see when you entered is this, and what can we say about it? It is amazing!!!
I didn’t know the price (I only wanted to visit it) and I was very surprised to discover that the enter costs only 5 euros…so, the journey started very well, but I was thinking that there are a lot of places that cost more than this amazing museum, and I felt very lucky, because it seemed like a present.
In this blog we always write about a Venice that isn’t only San Marco and Rialto, and I want to underline it, but it is undeniable that San Marco is a special destination for every tourist and for every Venetian too.
Have you ever tried to visit San Marco’s square in the night and you’re alone admiring a magic atmosphere? We did it (we’ll talk about this experience, I promise) and we can assure you that it is wonderful!
Anyway, we entered in the museum, and another beautiful surprise is that here you have the whole view of the Basilica from the inside. In my opinion we are lucky, because it is one of the most beautiful churches I’ve ever seen, it is composed by golden mosaics everywhere…unbelievable.
The museum is composed by three section:
- Mosaics
- Textiles and Quadriga
- The Ancient
Among the treasures preserved in the Museum of San Marco stand out the original horses of San Marco in Venice, the famous quadriga that led on the roof of the ancient hippodrome of Constantinople until the sack of the city by the Venetians in 1204.
From the ‘sack of Constantinople’ the inhabitants of Venice brought back a considerable booty, which included the famous bronze horses of San Marco. Placed on the terrace of the basilica since the thirteenth century, the original horses of the Basilica of San Marco in Venice were replaced with copies only in 1982, to protect them from smog and atmospheric agents. The origin of these wonderful horses in gilded bronze remains uncertain – they could be Hellenic as well as Romans: a small mystery that further enriches the cultural path of the basilica’s museum.
The exhibition itinerary of the San Marco Museum also includes: Persian carpets, liturgical vestments, illuminated manuscripts with the texts of the Marcian liturgies, precious musical instruments, fragments of mosaics, wool tapestries with the stories of the Passion of Christ and others in silk and silver with the stories of San Marco.
And now the magic final : the Terrace of San Marco. From here you have the view of San Marco’s square, and you can get some details that it is difficult to get from the ground.
So…what are you waiting for visit it??
Cheers 😉
P.S. : we created a list in Amazon with very useful products for your journey in Venice, so click here to discover it !!
