Saint Mark’s in Venice: introduction to its amazing Landmarks [Article + 360° VIDEO]

All these places can be admired around Saint Mark’s square in under 2 minutes on foot!

Of course, while it is possible to look at everything in just a few minutes quickly, one could easily spend hours or even days visiting and discovering this area thoroughly.

Everyone wants to visit the Basilica and the bell tower, but Museo Correr hosted in the Ala Napoleonica and the Procuratie Nuove, or the Marciana Library, which hosts one of the most significant classical text collections in the world are also places you shouldn’t write off.

This is why we made a small introduction to the landmarks in Saint Mark’s in Venice, to give you a taste of what you will be able to enjoy once you come to visit.

Related: 14 tips to make the best of your first trip to Venice Italy

The Saint Mark’s Basilica has surprising origins. The church was first built between 828 and 832 C.E., after Venetian merchants stole the relics of the Evangelist Mark from Alexandria in Egypt and brought them to Venice.

The relics of Mark, a figure of incredible importance in the Christian religion, gave incredible religious importance to Venice. This first church burned in 976 during a riot against a Doge, and a new version was built only in 1071, almost 100 years later.

Saint Mark was declared the new patron of Venice as soon as the church was inaugurated, but only in 1807, after the end of the Serenissima, did the Saint Mark’s church become the Cathedral of the city.

While the structure (almost) didn’t change since 1071, the succeeding centuries contributed to a continuous change and enrichment of its adornment.

Thanks to the Venetian wealth, an incredible trades network, and very profitable wars, Venetian ships continuously supplied columns, marbles, and sculptures from the east.

After the IV Crusade in 1204, where Venice defeated and conquered Byzantium, a further and incredible amount of treasures and masterpieces were taken from the then biggest and wealthiest metropole in the world and used to enrich even further Saint Mark’s church.

The Palazzo Ducale, or Doge Palace, has been the seat of the Political Power of the Venetian Republic.

It was the residence of the Doge as well as house to the political bodies of the State.

Adminstrative offices, law courts, grand stairways, council halls, apartments and prisons were all fit into this beautiful and complex yet efficient building.

Initially built in the 10th century in a byzantine style, the reconstruction started in 1340 with the creation of the “Sala del Maggior Consiglio”, or Great Council Hall, is a clear example of gothic  architecture.

Over the following centuries, multiple expansions and changes took place without changing however the overall gothic style.

The Plalazzo Ducale lost its functions with the arrival of Napoleon in 1797 and was then converten in a public museum in 1923.

Since 1923 the Palazzo Ducale, which is the most important museum of the Venice, tells the history of the Serenissima, the longest lasting republic in history.

What is amazing in Venice is that all the major building have terrific facade while the sides or the back of the building are not as beautiful and that’s for a good reason: every building in Venice was meant to be seen from the water.

This is they way the city was meant to be lived, by navigating it, by bringing merchandise and spices from distant places.

Hanging just over the Rio de la Canonica, its is possible to admire one of the most famous yet most misunderstood bridges of Venice: the Ponte dei Sospiri, or Bridge of Sighs.

Every year, millions of people standing on the Ponte della Paglia take a picture while kissing their better half, with the Bridge of Sighs as the perfect and most romantic background… but here’s the catch:

The Ponte dei Sospiri was built in 1614 to connect the inquisitors’ offices in Palazzo Ducale (on the left) to the Prigioni Nuove or the New Prisons (on the right).

As you might have guessed, the “sighs” the name refers to are the heavy sighs of the convicted who were leaving behind their liberty and were most likely seeing Venice for the last… those were definitely not the kind of sighs you wish for a romantic love story.

Since the XII, the Procuratie housed the offices and apartments of the procurators of Saint Mark.

Originally the Procuratie had wings on the west side of the square and they were separated only by a small church.

In 1810, after the fall of the Serenissima, the wings and the church were demolished and replaced by a new building, the Napoleonic Wing, or Ala Napoleonica.

Since 1922 the Ala Napoleonica and the Procuratie Nuove on the South side of the square, host the Museo Correr.