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San Marco St Mark

48 Piazza San Marco, 00186 Roma; side entrance through the Palazzo Venezia.

Basilica dedicated to St Mark the Evangelist, patron saint of the Venetian republic. History

The basilica was probably founded by Pope St Marcus (Mark) in 336, and is one of Rome's oldest churches. It stand on the site where St Marcus is said to have lived, and was known as the Titulus Pallacinae.

The church was rebuilt in the 5th century, and was left facing the opposite direction.

It was reconstructed in the 8th century by Pope Adrian I (772-795), and given back its original orientation, which it has today. It was flooded when the Tiber rose above its banks soon after, in 791. Pope Gregory IV (827-844) restored it after the flood.

Pietro Cardinal Barbo, titular of the church and later Pope Paul II, restored it again in 1455-1471. At the same time, he built the Palazzo Venezia. Cardinal Barbo declared San Marco as the national church of the Venetians.

In 1744, it was changed into a baroque church by Filippo Barigioni.

In 1973, Albino Luciani became titular of the church. He was elected pope in 1978, taking the name John Paul I. The current titular of the church is Cardinal Marco Cé, Patriarch of Venice.

The full name of the church is San Marco Evangelista in Campidoglio, St Mark the Evangelist at the Capitol. Exterior

The bell-tower was added in 1100.

The 15th century Renaissance façade is by Leon Battista Alberti. It has a portico with three arches, with the Loggia of Benedictions above - the loggia was completed by Giuliano da Maiano in 1471.

The Renaissance door is by Isaia da Pisa. By the door are the remains of an ancient canopy and a medieval well-head with an inscription cursing anyone who sold water drawn from it. And above the door is a lunette with a bas relief by Isaia da Pisa, made in 1464, depicting St Mark the Evangelist.

In the right-hand wall of the porch is the funerary plaque of Vannozza de'Cattani, moved here from her tomb in Santa Maria del Popolo. She was the mother of Cesare, Lucrezia, Giofrea and Giovanni Borgia, and their names were recorded with pride in the inscription on the tomb. Because of this, enemies of the Borgias later defaced the stone. Plan

See a plan of San Marco. Interior

The church has three naves. The coffered wooden ceiling is from the second half of the 15th century, and is possibly the oldest in Rome, though the ceiling in Santa Maria Maggiore may be older. It was made by Giovannino and Marco de Dolci.

On the right side of the nave, by the third column from the entrance, is the fresco The Resurrection by Palma the Younger, made c. 1600.

The apse mosaic dates from the 9th century, and was ordered by Pope St Gregory IV (827-844). It's in the Byzantine style known in an earlier example from Santi Cosma e Damiano, but it was probably made by Roman artists who imitated the style rather than Greeks who really knew it. The mosaics in this church are the last major ones made in Rome for nearly 300 years. Christ is standing in the middle, flanked by the St Felicissimus, St Mark the Evangelist, Pope Gregory IV on the left and Sts Pope Marcus, Pope Agapitus and Agnes on the right. St Mark has his hand on Pope Gregory's shoulder, meaning that he is introducing him to Christ.

The relics of the founder, Pope St Marcus, are preserved in a porphyry urn beneath the high altar. Relics of the Persian martyrs Abdon and Sennen are in the crypt.

It is possible to ask permission to visit the excavations of earlier churches underneath the present church.

The funeral monument of the child Leonardo Pesaro is by Antonio Canova, made in 1796.

The Chapel of the Sacrament has an altar by Pietro da Cortona. The 15th century portrait of Pope St Marcus is by Melozzo da Forli.

A portrait of St Mark the Evangelist by da Forli is in the sacristy, and you may ask permission to see it. There are also traces of 14th century frescoes, the school of Cavallini, in the sacristy.