St Mark's Square

Venice's principal square, framed by St Mark's Basilica and its tall brick campanile.

Long arcades of shops and cafés line the other three sides, and a tall brick bell tower, the Campanile, rises on its own in the square. Together with the smaller Piazzetta that runs down to the water, the square was the religious, political and social heart of Venice for centuries. A saying often credited to Napoleon, though nobody has proved he said it, calls it the drawing room of Europe.

History

In 828 and 829, Venetians took the relics of Saint Mark out of Alexandria in Egypt and brought them to Venice. Mark became the city's patron saint, and a church was built for him beside the Doge's home. In the late 1100s the square was paved with bricks in a herringbone pattern. Later came the clock tower, finished in 1499, and the long arcaded buildings where Venice's top officials, the Procurators of St Mark, lived and worked. Napoleon rebuilt the western end around 1810.

The bell tower that fell down

The Campanile began as a watchtower to spot ships coming towards the city and to guide Venetian ships safely into harbour. It reached its full height in 1514. On 14 July 1902 the whole tower suddenly collapsed into a pile of rubble. Venice decided to rebuild it exactly as it was and where it was, and the new tower was completed in 1912. At 98.6 metres it is the tallest structure in Venice, and a golden statue of the archangel Gabriel turns like a weather vane on its top.

Floods and pigeons

The square is only a little above sea level, so it is one of the first places to flood during acqua alta, the high water that comes when storms push the sea into the lagoon. In the great flood of 1966 the water rose about 194 centimetres. The square was also famous for its huge flocks of pigeons, which visitors used to feed. In 2008 the city banned feeding them, because the birds were damaging buildings and monuments.

On the globe

The model shows Venice's main square framed by St Mark's Basilica and its tall brick campanile. Zoom in to compare the domed basilica with the slender bell tower beside it.