Elena Ene D-VASILESCU

Published in Mirabilia Journal 31 (2020/2)  

Keywords: Byzantium, Dominico Selvo, Emperor Henry IV, St Mark’s church, The eleventh century, Venice.

In 1084 the most important of the few consecrations of St Mark’s church in Venice – that which solemnized the completion of its largest altar – took place. It is assumed that Doge Dominico Selvo (1071-1084) assigned Byzantine mosaicists to finish the decorative programme in time for the respective event. In part because of the beauty and the remarkable quality of the works they created, the eleventh century saw the prestige of this Venetian shrine increase. Also what in the popular imagination was the miraculous appearance of the relics of its patron saint from a pillar (either in 1084 or 1094, depending on the source employed) further augmented it. The article attempts to prove that the eleventh century was the most important period in the existence of the medieval Venetian church which much later became the cathedral San Marco. It will venture a description of this shrine not only on the basis of its similarities, claimed by most scholars, with the Apostoleion church in Constantinople, but also using information from extant documents as well as results of new scientific and archaeological discoveries, especially those published in the catalogue of the exhibition organised by its Procuratoria between July and November 2011, in Ken Dark and Ferudun Özgümüş’s works, in the reports concerning the research undertaken by the British Museum, and in other sources.