 St Mark's Basilica, the cathedral of Venice, is the most famous of the city's churches and one of the best known examples of Byzantine architecture. It lies on St Mark's Square, adjacent and connected to the Doge's Palace and has been the seat of the Patriarch of Venice, archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice since 1807. For its opulent design, gilded Byzantine mosaics, and its status as a symbol of Venetian wealth and power from the 11th century on, the building was known by the nickname Chiesa d'Oro ("church of gold").
The first St Mark's was a temporary building in the Doge’s Palace, constructed in 828, when Venetian merchants acquired the supposed relics of Saint Mark the Evangelist from Alexandria. This was replaced by a new church on its present site in 832. The new church was burned in a rebellion in 976, rebuilt in 978 and again to form the basis of the present basilica in 1063. Recently, Historian Andrew Chugg has suggested that the body of "St. Mark" interred in the Basilica, may in fact be the body of Alexander the Great. Chugg bases his theory on the fact that Alexander's body was "lost" at about the same time as the body of St. Mark was "found" in Alexandria and taken to Venice. A request by Professor Chugg to exhume the body of "St. Mark," and examine it, has been submitted to the Vatican. If approved (which is doubtfull), Chugg proposes to perform radio-carbon dating on the remains, and to search the body for Alexander the Great's well documented battle wounds, which would still be observable, and would confirm the identity of the body. |
